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CflKSUGKT DEPOSIT. 



THERETURN 
OF THE REDEEMER 



GEORGE P. ECKMAN 



OTHER BOOKS BY DR. ECKMAN 



PASSION WEEK SERMONS 

STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 

First Series, Chapters I-XII 

STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 

Second Series, Chapters XIII-XXI 

STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. Two volumes in one 
WHEN CHRIST COMES AGAIN 



THE RETURN 
OF THE REDEEMER 



BY. 

GEORGE P^ECKMAN 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 






Copyright, 1920, by 
MAY ECKMAN 



8EC 24 



mo 



§)CU605150 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Coming of the Lord . .. 9 

II. The Promise of His Coming 31 

III. The Expectation of His Coming 49 

IV. Coming in His Kingdom 60 

V. The Kingdom as the Prophets Fore- 
saw It 71 

VI. The Kingdom as Apocalypse Pictured 

It 92 

VII. The Kingdom as Jesus Preached It. . 106 
VIII. The Kingdom as the Apostles Taught 

It \. '....". 130 

IX. The Kingdom and the Church 149 

X. The End of the World 164 

XL The Puzzle of the Antichrist 184 

XII. The Millennium 200 

XIII. Armageddon — The Last War 226 

XIV. The Business of the Hour 245 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

The Person. 

Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. — Psalm 19. 14- 
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by 

thy name; thou art mine. — Isaiah 43. 1. 

As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the 
Holy One of Israel. — Isaiah 47. 4> 

Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and 
gold ; from your vain conversation received by tradition from 
your fathers; 

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without 
blemish and without spot. — 1 Peter 1. 18, 19. 

The Purpose. 

Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. — Psalm 103. 4. 

1 will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will re- 
deem them from death. — Hosea 13. 14- 

The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. — Matthew 
20. 28; Mark 10. 45. 

The Faith. 

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand 
at the latter day upon the earth. — Job 19. 25. 

They remembered that God was their rock, and the high 
God their redeemer .^— Psalm 78. 35. 

We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed 
Israel. — Luke 24.21. 

The Fulfillment. 

He sent redemption unto his people. — Psalm 111. 9. 

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and 
redeemed his people. — Luke 1. 68. 

The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost.— Luke 19. 10. 

Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due 
time. — 1 Timothy 2. 6. 

The Expectation. 

When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, 
and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 
—Luke 21. 28. 

7 



THE RETURN OF THE EEDEEMER 

We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
tion, to wit, the redemption of our body. —Romans 8. 23. 

Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemp- 
tion of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 
— Ephesians 1. 13, 14. 

Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed 
unto the day of redemption. — Ephesians 4. 30. 

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of 
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all 
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works. — Titus 2. 13, 14. 

The Consummation. 

An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be 
-called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; 
but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, 
shall not err therein. 

No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up 
thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall 
walk there: 

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they 
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall 
flee away. — Isaiah 35. 8-10. 

They shall call them, The holy people, The Redeemed of 
the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not 
forsaken. — Isaiah 62. 12. 

They sung as it were a new song before the throne, and 
before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn 
that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which 
were redeemed from the earth. — Revelation lJf.. 3. 

The Testimony. 

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath re- 
deemed from the hand of the enemy. — Psalm 107. 2. 

And spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in 
Jerusalem. — Luke 2. 38. 

Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we 
shall reign on the earth. — Revelation 5. 9, 10. 



CHAPTEK I 
THE COMING OF THE LOED 

Where is the promise of his coming? — 2 Peter 3. 4. 

After the siege of Londonderry in the revolu- 
tion which drove James II from the English, 
throne, the Irish Protestants raised a lofty pillar 
on the bastion of the wall which had sustained 
the heaviest fire of the enemy. On the top of this 
column they placed a statue of the heroic clergy- 
man who for more than three months by his ex- 
ample and eloquence had kept the starving citi- 
zens and the beleaguered garrison firm in their re- 
sistance. Clothed in full canonicals, the minister 
was portrayed vigorously appealing to his com- 
rades in distress, with one hand grasping a Bible, 
and with the other pointing down the river, as if 
to direct the gaze of his auditors to the first tokens 
of approaching relief. The memorial was true to 
fact, for within an hour after he had preached in 
the cathedral urging his congregation to persist, 
and assuring them that God would send deliver- 
ance, the top-masts of an English fleet were seen 
entering the mouth of the river, and the next day 
the foe was driven from the walls and the siege 
lifted. That figure may well represent the spirit 
of prophecy which through the Christian centu- 
ries has impelled preachers of righteousness, with 
their fingers turning the pages of Sacred Scrip- 
ture, and their eyes searching the sky, constantly 
to look for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "revealed 
from heaven with his mighty angels." 1 

2 2 Thessalomans 1. 7. 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Among the earliest Christians a favorite watch- 
word was "Maranatha !" It is an Aramaic word 
meaning "The Lord is coming !" or, as some prefer 
to translate it, "O Lord, come!" At the close of 
one of his greatest epistles Paul flings it out like 
a challenge, placing it between a malediction 
spoken against those who love not the Lord and 
a benediction pronounced on those who are serv- 
ing him. 2 For the former the Lord's coming 
means judgment unto condemnation, for the lat- 
ter redemption unto eternal life. "Maranatha !" 
in Paul's day may have been a salutation between 
Christians. Perhaps when they met they ex- 
claimed, "The Lord cometh!" as in the Greek 
Church it is the custom on Easter to use the greet- 
ing, "The Lord is risen !" Possibly the expression 
was a kind of password or countersign, uttered by 
believers as a token of recognition when they were 
among their enemies, or as a term of friendly en- 
couragement in time of peril. In any case it con- 
veyed a faith which sustained the early Christians 
in their conflicts with the powers of the world. It 
has come down the centuries as the symbol of a 
deathless hope. The first followers of Jesus passed 
away whispering, "The Lord is coming!" Suc- 
ceeding generations have carried along the same 
proclamation down to our day. "Maranatha !" is 
still the watch-cry of Christendom. No conviction 
has more stubbornly withstood the assaults of 
critics. It has been spurned as ridiculous, flouted 
as injurious, denounced as unreasonable, and even 
denied on alleged scriptural grounds; but it has 
not been destroyed. Let us observe some of the 
reasons for its disfavor among those who oppose 
it, and then examine the causes which have 



2 1 Corinthians 16. 22, 23. 
10 



THE COMING OF THE LOED 

brought it to our times with its vitality undimin- 
ished. 

I. The doctrine of Christ's return has been ridi- 
culed because of its unfortunate attraction for per- 
sons of a freakish imagination and a perverse dis- 
position, who have no sooner espoused the teach- 
ing of the second advent than they have begun to 
herald it as practically the whole substance of 
the gospel, and then have proceeded to load it 
down with foolish and forbidden speculations. 
Chief among these is the fixing of the date for 
our Lord's coming again, though he expressly 
warned his disciples that this could not be done 
and must not be attempted. 3 Persons who loudly 
insist that in all other cases the words of Christ 
shall be taken just as they stand, and every com- 
mand from his lips shall be obeyed with perfect 
accuracy, give wild license to their fancy with 
respect to the sayings of Jesus about his return, 
and with strange hardihood write down the hour 
when he may be expected, though he solemnly told 
his disciples the time was unknown to him. 4 
There is no record that any of the earliest Chris- 
tians were given to this folly, but it soon began 
to plague the church and never has ceased to 
grieve the judicious. About A. D. 200 a writer 
named Judas undertook to prove that the return 
of Christ and the end of the world was very near. 
A few instances of the course this sorry vanity 
has run will suffice. The year 1000 was widely 
expected to mark the close of the age and the com- 
ing of Christ to judge the world. In the four- 
teenth century Militz, the Bohemian reformer, an- 
nounced that this event would occur somewhere 



3 Matthew 24. 23-26, 36. Acts 1. 7. 
4 Mark 13. 32. 

11 



•THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

between 1365 and 1367. Alsted, a German scholar 
of the seventeenth century, declared the date 
would be 1694. Napier, the inventor of loga- 
rithms, said it lay between 1688 and 1700. Whis- 
ton, the mathematician, first named 1715 as the 
date, but later changed it to 1734. Jurieu, a 
Protestant theologian of France, made it 1689. 
A noisy millenarian movement in Germany under 
the leadership of a girl held 1730 as the year of 
the second advent. Bengel, the celebrated Ger- 
man theologian, adopted the year 1836. William 
Miller, who inspired the most remarkable out- 
break of millennial fervor the United States has 
ever known, named 1843 as the year of fate, but 
when that had passed he moved the date to Octo- 
ber 23, 1844. Edward Irving, a Scotch Presby- 
terian minister, fixed on 1864. Dr. John Cum- 
mings, of England, taught that 1867 would be the 
time. C. T. Russell, w T ho still has a large follow- 
ing in America, affirmed that Christ actually re- 
turned in 1874, and that the end of the world 
would come in 1914. Late in 1917 a company of 
clergy and laity in England declared that our 
Lord might come back at any moment, and pointed 
to current events as showing the certainty that 
his return could not be long delayed. At this con- 
vention a speaker said that if one could determine 
the exact year in which Jerusalem was taken by 
Nebuchadnezzar, it would be an easy matter to 
^x the hour when "the times of the Gentiles" 
would be fulfilled, and the return of Christ would 
take place. The same enthusiast called attention 
to the fact that the remotest date suggested' for 
the completion of this period was 1934. Prophetic 
conferences are annually held in America to con- 
sider "the signs of the times," and they never fail 
to announce the speedy return of Christ. Mean- 

12 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

while a writer in this country has proved to his 
own satisfaction that 1932 will bring the second 
advent of our Lord and the era of universal peace 
and righteousness. 

This vain process of calculating the hour of 
Christ's return is usually based on the misuse of 
prophecy concerning "the day of the Lord/' "the 
last times/' and other phrases denoting crises 
which cannot be confined to a narrow range. An- 
other practice is to read prophetic and apostolic 
forecast of moral and social conditions which 
are in the immediate foreground of the inspired 
writer's vision as if they were to be applied di- 
rectly to the happenings of the present time. This 
method is always most impressively followed in 
periods of public distress. The earliest Christians 
believed, and quite reasonably in view of some 
things Jesus said, that the fall of Jerusalem 
would mark the hour of their Master's return. 
Later generations regarded the frightful persecu- 
tions of Christians by the Eoman emperors as 
clear indications that their Lord would soon come 
again. Farther down the centuries, when the tri- 
umphant church became corrupt and tyrannical, 
many Christians who held to the simple faith of 
the apostles were convinced that the decline of 
spiritual religion foretokened the quick arrival of 
Christ to judge the world. This was the case with 
the followers of John Huss in the fifteenth cen- 
tury ; also with many of the reformers in the six- 
teenth century, especially in France, Italy, Switz- 
erland, and Germany. Martin Luther thought it 
hardly possible that the world could endure many 
years. The Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth 
century, in which all Europe was involved, 
brought the expectation of the final cataclysm 
sharply into common thought. The French Revo- 

13 



THE BETUBN OF THE EEDEEMEK 

lution in the eighteenth century was interpreted 
by many devout students of prophecy as the begin- 
ning of the end. In our times we have wit- 
nessed the most widespread exhibition of this 
infatuation the w T orld has ever known since 
the year 1000. The greatest of all wars has just 
finished its havoc of nations. During its continu- 
ance the most definite proofs were set forth that 
the end of earthly history was swiftly approaching 
and that Christ would suddenly appear to exe- 
cute vengeance on the evil world. The pestilence 
of influenza and pneumonia which swept round 
the globe in 1918 was eagerly seized upon by mil- 
lenarians as evidence that "the last times" had 
come. The rise and progress of Bolshevism, race 
riots in the United States, industrial revolts 
everywhere, all confusions and turbulence whatso- 
ever, no matter what their source or aim, have 
been called sure signs of the breaking up of the 
age, and clear intimations that Christ's visible 
presence might be expected any hour. World 
movements of all sorts have been explained in 
the same way. The overthrow of European gov- 
ernments, the downfall of Turkey, the dismember- 
ment of Bussia, the Zionist migration to Palestine, 
the formation of the League of Nations, the stir- 
rings of national ambitions in China, Japan, and 
Korea — everything, in fact, which is changing has 
been taken . to denote the speedy coming of our 
Lord. The increase of travel, the wider diffusion 
of knowledge, the surprises of inventive genius, 
the navigation of the air, the discoveries of sci- 
ence, the feminist movement — in short, every fer- 
ment in society has been appropriated as an in- 
fallible sign that the end of the age is at hand. 
Crimes, catastrophes, famines, earthquakes and 
outbreaks of wickedness in high places are ap- 

14 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

parently gratifying to certain misguided students 
of prophecy, who see in these events confirmation 
for their own predictions. All this profitless 
measuring of times and seasons brings serious em- 
barrassment to the doctrine of the second advent. 
Nevertheless, the conviction that Christ will come 
again in due time is not destroyed. It survives all 
abuses and contradictions. At this writing a 
group of Christians are tarrying in Jerusalem in- 
tent upon welcoming their Lord at this return, 
which they fancy to be very near. They are the 
successors of similar colonies which have gathered 
there for the same purpose for many years. Their 
places will be taken by other watchers in turn as 
time moves on. They symbolize the unquenchable 
hope of Christendom. Faithful souls in all ages 
will continue to sound the exultant note, "Marana- 
tha!" — "The Lord is coming!" 

2. The doctrine of the second coming has suffered 
also from the odd and unreasonable interpretations 
of the Scriptures, particularly of the Old Testament, 
with which good but ill-informed persons have be- 
set the teaching. Not satisfied with the promises 
of our Lord and the predictions of his apostles, 
they have run everywhere through ancient 
prophecy, poetry, and history to find proof-texts 
to support their theories, of the manner and pur- 
pose of Christ's return. They use passages to 
strengthen their fancies which by no just 
method of interpretation can be rightfully as- 
signed to the second advent of the Messiah. There 
is not a scintilla of evidence that any prophet of 
the olden time foresaw that Christ would make 
more than one entrance into the world in visible 
presence. It is impossible to apply the Messianic 
predictions of any ancient seer to the second com- 
ing without twisting his words out of their natu- 

15 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ral setting, and claiming that he foretold more 
than he was himself aware of uttering. It would 
be hard to justify such a procedure. One of the 
most flagrant instances of improper treatment of 
the Scriptures, which is often cited to expose the 
evil to which we refer, is this, from one of the old- 
est books in the Bible: "The Lord came from 
Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; he shined 
forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten 
thousands of saints: from his right hand went a 
fiery law." 5 To quote this text in support of the 
second advent is simply a gross abuse of the Scrip- 
tures, yet it is frequently used for the purpose. 
Other illustrations of the same habit will appear 
as we proceed with our discussion. 

A further extension of this process of wringing 
meanings from the ancient writings which they do 
not contain is to take every piece of imagery in the 
old apocalyptic prophecies, which the wildest 
stretch of fancy can apply to the second advent of 
our Lord, and make it exactly fit the circum- 
stances of his return. Here are two harmful 
things : first, words which are so plainly figurative 
that the average reader, if left to himself, would 
not think of treating as anything but symbolical, 
are made to describe events which are actually to 
happen; second, these supposed events are boldly 
declared to form a part of the scenery which is 
to attend the coming again of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Neither of these interpretations has any 
warrant outside the imaginations of those persons 
who make them; yet both of them are seriously 
put forth by a certain class of millenarians. For 
example, a writer who has a large following, in 
a single paragraph which purports to describe the 



'Deuteronomy 33. 2. 

16 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

exact manner of Christ's second coming, bases his 
forecast on a mosaic of detached passages from 
the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Zephaniah', 
Zechariati, and the Revelation, all of which he sets 
down in footnotes to prove his notion. Thus from 
seven writers, covering a period of eight hundred 
years, and distinctly .referred to several different 
events, not one of which is historically connected 
with the second advent of our Lord, this man 
dares to draw a picture of the amazing things 
which he says are to occur when Christ returns, 
and demands that he shall be trusted as a safe 
teacher because forsooth he has pinned a text of 
Scripture to every item of his program. When 
people who already question the doctrine of the 
second advent see such a misapplication of the 
sacred waitings, they are the more inclined to 
doubt whether there be any sure biblical ground 
for the teaching. 

Another misuse of prophecy which has injured 
the doctrine is* the practice of making all the 
pictorial and poetic descriptions of Christ's 
kingdom which the ancient seers have given us 
literal accounts of precisely what it is to be. It 
is claimed that on his return our Lord will set up 
a kingdom which in effect will be a reorganized 
and glorified Jewish state, with its capital in 
Jerusalem, and with all nations submerged in its 
sovereignty. The means used to secure this end 
will be just such as earthly conquerors have al- 
ways employed to gratify their ambitions. War- 
ring battalions of the Lord will destroy the armies 
of the^ world, and force to the utmost will be spent 
in the welding of all the peoples of the earth into 
one kingdom, of which Christ will be the absolute 
Monarch. This government will establish a re- 
newed Jewish religion with more splendid cere- 

17 



THE RETURN OF THE EEDEEMER 

monial and ritual observances than ever were 
known, and its power will reach round the globe. 
This scheme is like the dream which inspired the 
aspirations of Napoleon Bonaparte and William 
Hohenzollern. What these hax)less creatures 
vainly tried to do Jesus will actually accomplish. 

Yet such a performance is contrary to the whole 
spirit of Christ's teaching while on earth. It is 
the hateful thing that he was always warning his 
disciples they must put aside. It is the seductive 
thing that he trampled into the dust when the 
tempter spread the glory of the world before his 
eyes, and when the thoughtless mob would have 
made him their king to lead them against the Ro- 
man tyrant. But it is the false thing, neverthe- 
less, that many ardent advocates of the doctrine 
of the second coming of Christ insist on teaching. 
It is not strange that spiritually minded people 
draw back from it, and are fearful on this account 
that the whole doctrine with which it is encum- 
bered may be a blunder. 

3. The doctrine of the second advent has been 
injured by the social and political evils which have 
attached themselves to it through the misconduct of 
some of its supporters. It is unjust to condemn a 
teaching on such a ground, yet it has often been 
done in the case of most excellent things. The 
Wesleyan Revival, the anti-slavery movement, the 
campaign for the abolition of alcoholic beverages, 
even the Christian propaganda, illustrate the ease 
with which undertakings of the noblest sort may 
be hurt by the allegiance of foolish or wicked peo- 
ple. In like manner the doctrine of Christ's re- 
turn has from the first been embarrassed by evil 
associations. Paul found it necessary to rebuke 
certain nominal Christians in Thessaloniea, who 
in the prospect of Christ's coming, as they sup- 

18 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

posed in the near future, allowed themselves to 
become useless and mischievous. 6 The same re- 
sult accompanied the expectation that Christ 
would return about the year 1000. As that date 
approached many forsook home and country and 
marched off to Palestine. Others gave up their 
property to the church, or left their lands to lie 
idle and untilled. The whole order of life was 
overturned, and when the year had passed and it 
was plain they had been misguided, many gave 
themselves up to lawlessness, disorder, and vio- 
lence. The reactions of the Millerite excitement 
in America toward the middle of the nineteenth 
century were of the same character. As the time 
set by Miller drew near, his followers sold their 
farms and houses, threw the goods in their stores 
into the streets, yielded themselves to dreams and 
idleness, and in some instances became insane. 
When the craze had spent itself many had lost 
their faith in the Christian religion. The tend-* 
ency to fall away from all efforts at social reform, 
and to defer all attempts to improve civic and 
political conditions till the Lord come to sweep 
every wrong thing away at a single stroke, is very 
marked among those in our own day who look for 
the immediate return of Christ. 

Sometimes the infatuation takes a much differ- 
ent direction. Instead of lax waiting for the ap- 
proaching climax there is impatience with the 
slow development of events, and eagerness to 
hasten the end. In England during the latter 
half of the seventeenth century, under the pres- 
sure of millennial teachings of an extravagant 
sort, the Fifth Monarchy movement arose. Its 
adherents held that, following the four great mon- 



6 1 Thessalonians 4. 11, 12. 2 Thessalonians 3. 11. 
19 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

archies, Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome, a fifth 
was about to appear with Jesus as King. Under 
this delusion serious uprisings against the Eng- 
lish government occurred. The recent history 
of Russellism in the United States was character- 
ized by a similar spirit. Some of its advocates who 
strove to put the teachings of their leader into 
actual practice during the world war were not 
only such inveterate pacifists as to bring them 
into disfavor for lack of patriotism, but w r ere so 
brazen in their denunciations of the government 
that a number of the more vociferous speakers 
among them found their way to federal prisons. 
Mormonism is an example of the attraction w 7 hich 
the second advent has for false religions and 
strange heresies. It is painful to observe with 
what zeal such foes of Christian simplicity seize 
upon the more spectacular features of the return 
of Christ as portrayed by intemperate enthusiasts, 
and it is natural that persons of sound judgment 
should find in this fact a stumbling-block to their 
faith in the coming again of our Lord. 

In spite of ridicule, argument, and denial, how- 
ever, the belief in Christ's return lives on. It is 
recited in our creeds and confessions. It figures 
in our liturgies and ceremonies. It is sung in 
our hymns and poured out in our prayers. It 
breathes in the devotion of millions of saints. It 
seems to be an indestructible conviction. Let us 
look at some of the reasons for its survival in the 
face of obloquy and direct assault. 

1. The feeling that the world cannot be conquered 
for righteousness without the presence and immedi- 
ate personal leadership of Christ on earth is one of 
the influential reasons for a belief in the second 
advent on the part of many Christians. It is not the 
soundest of reasons, and is therefore mentioned 

20 



THE COMING OF THE LOKD 

first. Yet it can scarcely be doubted that it had 
weight with the apostles. This is particularly 
evident in the Kevelation of John, which is de- 
voted to the demonstration of Christ's personal 
triumph over the hideous cruelties of the persecut- 
ing Eoman empire and the wicked apostasy of a 
decadent Judaism. The early church could not at 
first realize how its campaigns against the world 
could be carried to success unless the Lord should 
come to take personal charge of the final engage- 
ment. This feeling gave way a little when Chris- 
tianity prevailed over the empire. It was awak- 
ened to new vigor when the church itself began to 
be corrupted by paganism. From that day for- 
ward every period of depression in the church, 
every hour of apparently losing struggle with the 
world, has quickened the feeling of many Chris- 
tians that Christ's personal return alone can res- 
cue the cause of righteousness and save society 
from ruin. This opinion is ilot shared by all 
Christians, a large proportion of whom believe 
that by his spiritual presence in the world, which 
he declared should be perpetual, our Lord can ac- 
complish for his church and the human race all 
that could be achieved by his bodily presence and 
leadership. Indeed, it seems clear from his own 
words that through the influence of the Holy 
Spirit upon believers Christ expected his church to 
reach higher results than would have been possi- 
ble had he remained on the earth. 7 Nevertheless, 
one must admit that, though the necessity of 
Christ's return in order to conquer the world for 
righteousness is not proved, the feeling that it may 
be required is one of the strongest incentives for 
a belief in the second coming in the minds of many 



7 John 14. 12; 16. 7-13. 

21 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

persons. We may argue that this idea leads peo- 
ple to shift responsibility for seeking the salva- 
tion of the world to the shoulders of the coming 
Christ, and that it robs the church of the social 
energy it ought to have, to meet the problems of 
the passing age; but the fact remains that hosts 
of earnest Christians have no confidence that 
right can win in this world till the return of our 
Lord. When a distinguished preacher in New 
York was about to leave America for his native 
England a farewell reception was tendered him. 
In his message of adieu to his fellow ministers he 
expressed his sadness over world conditions and 
his weariness in waiting for the reformation of 
mankind. Commenting on this utterance, the ed- 
itor of a religious periodical advised the great 
divine to cease troubling about the improvement 
of society and simply wait with patience for the 
coming of Christ. We may regard this rejoinder 
as a foolish impertinence, but it contains the rea- 
son which impels a number of Christians to hold 
the doctrine of the second advent. 

2. The conviction that the return of Christ is nec- 
essary to the completion of his work as the final ar- 
biter of human destiny is another cause of belief 
in the doctrine of the second coming. It seems but 
natural that the world in which the redemptive 
work of our Lord has been in process through the 
ages should also be the world wherein the triumph 
of that work should be displayed to all intelli- 
gences. It is fitting that the divine Author and 
Finisher of this sublime mission should have in 
this world the victory of his grace demonstrated 
before angels and men. In no other region of the 
universe could the climax of his service for hu- 
manity be so suitably observed. 

It is most appropriate also that in this world 
22 



THE COMING OF THE LOED 

unanswerable evidence of Christ's divine authority 
should be given before final judgment on human- 
ity has been pronounced. It is true that Paul says 
Christ was "declared to be the Son of God with 
power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the 
resurrection from the dead." 8 But even this proof 
has been denied. It is the fond delusion of in- 
fidelity that when Jesus died his ministry on the 
earth was ended. Believers know that through 
all the following centuries he has not ceased to 
show his saving grace to the children of men. In 
his true character he is to be set forth in the 
sight of all who have dwelt on the face of the earth 
since time began. It is not too much to hope that 
when that overpowering revelation of his eternal 
might and sacrificial love for mankind has been 
made, millions who have withstood the appeals 
of his ministers will turn to him in perfect faith. 
He is coming to judge the quick and the dead. 
It is not enough that judgment is being made 
from day to day on all men in every transaction 
of their lives, as is often said. Even at death 
complete judgment cannot be given on any life. 
Not till all the relations of life have been taken 
into account, not till all the influences of one 
soul upon another have been reckoned, can the 
awards of a final judgment be made. The planet 
whereon we live is not everlasting. Many facts 
point to its eventual destruction. Hence man's 
probation on this earth must some day cease. Be- 
fore the goal of human history has been passed, 
and while the world yet endures, on the very field- 
where men have wrought the good and ill of their 
lives, they are to receive the final appraisal of 
their earthly deeds. 



8 Romans 1. 4. 

23 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

3. The teachings of the New Testament, above all 
other reasons which can be assigned, have convinced 
believers that the doctrine of the second advent is 
true. Each of the four Gospels contains it, 
though it is most prominent in the first three. 
It is found in all the epistles of Paul with two 
exceptions; sometimes with but slight mention, 
at other times with large attention. The epistles 
of James, Peter, and John affirm it. It is clearly 
taught in the epistle to the Hebrews. The Revela- 
tion of John is full of it. 

It is possible to discredit these writers, if one 
has the will to do it ; but it is not possible to deny 
what they wrote. They plainly declare that Jesus 
said he was coming again. They unreservedly 
tell their readers that they are sure he will keep 
his promise. It may be charged that through 
ignorance they blundered about what Christ said, 
or that they willfully misrepresented the words 
of their Master, putting their own hopes in place 
of his actual teachings. No believer in the in- 
spiration of the Bible can accept either of these 
suppositions. It is said, however, that while these 
writers correctly report the sayings of Jesus, and 
are thoroughly sincere in what they assert about 
their own expectations, we who read their words 
may have misunderstood their meaning. It is 
claimed that what they intend to say and what 
we fancy they are trying to say may be very dif- 
ferent. Hence there is much contention over the 
terms used by these writers in connection with 
this subject. But on examining the matter the 
suggestion of misunderstanding loses weight, for 
the New Testament writers use chiefly those words 
which are most suitable to the idea of a personal, 
visible, bodily return of our Lord. They fre- 
quently employ the commonest and plainest terms 

24 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

in the Greek language for "come" and "coming" 
in this relation. Taking them at their surface 
meaning, no one would think of making them 
stand for anything but the actual coming again of 
the Person to whom they refer. Words of another 
class, affording in some instances the possibility 
of a difference in meaning, are also used^ but in 
such a way as to show that when applied to the 
second advent they signify the same thing. There 
are three such words of importance, and for each 
of them we have a corresponding English term. 

The first and most frequently used of these 
words is parousia, which has been taken over into 
our language without change, being a technical 
term for the second coming, which is often in 
theological works called "the parousia." The lit- 
eral meaning of the word is "being present," or 
"present." Almost always it denotes such a pres- 
ence as brings an absence to an end, and not a 
presence which has been continuous or unbroken. 
Hence it may be properly used in the sense of 
"coming" or "arriving," and is so translated sev- 
eral times in the New Testament in connection 
with the journeys of persons from one place to 
another. 9 The word appears twenty-four times, 
and in sixteen places it refers to the second com- 
ing of our Lord. It is first used in this sense in 
Christ's apocalyptic address, 10 and is carried over 
to the writings of the apostles 11 It is hard to see 
how it can signify in these passages anything 
other than the personal return of the Saviour- 



9 Acts 10. 21. 1 Corinthians 16. 17. 2 Corinthians 7. 6, 
7. Compare 2 Thessalonians 2. 9. 2 Peter 3. 12. 

10 Matthew 24. 3, 27, 37, 39. 

lx l Corinthians 15. 23. 1 Thessalonians 2. 19; 3. 13; 
4. 15; 5. 23. 2 Thessalonians 2. 1, 8. James 5. 7, 8. 2 
Peter 1. 16; 3. 4. I John 2. 28. 

25 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

There is one instance in Paul's first letter to the 
Thessalonians where he virtually defines what he 
means by "the parousia." He is speaking of those 
who "are alive and remain unto the coming 
[parousia] of the Lord." He immediately de- 
scribes the manner of that "parousia" in the 
words; "The Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God." Without 
question Paul looked for a distinctly personal re- 
turn of the Redeemer. 12 

Another word for the same event is apokqlupsis, 
from which w r e derive our English term "apoca- 
lypse." It occurs nineteen times in the Xew 
Testament, and its meaning in connection with the 
second coming is evident. 13 It furnishes the 
title of the last book in the Bible, where it is trans- 
lated "The Revelation." It is rendered in the 
same way elsewhere. It is also translated "com- 
ing," "appearing," "manifesting." Its root mean- 
ing is "to uncover," "to disclose," "to reveal." It 
is a fit word to express the personal return of our 
Lord. 

A third word of significance is epiphaneia, from 
which we get our English equivalent "epiphany." 
It means "appearance," "manifestation," "show," 
"display," "splendor." In the calendar of the 
church year the festival of the epiphany celebrates 
the coming of the Magi to find the infant Jesus, 
who was shown, exhibited, or displayed to their 
gaze. This word is found ten times in the New 
Testament. In eight places it evidently refers to 
the second advent. The most natural meaning of 



12 1 Thessalonians 4. 15, 16. 

1S 1 Corinthians 1. 7. 2 Thessalonians 1. 7. 1 Peter 
1. 7; 4. 13, etc. 

26 



THE COMING OF THE LOED 

the word in that connection is the visible mani- 
festation of the Lord in person. 14 

The careful student of the passages in which 
these and other words referring to the second 
coming of Christ are used will find difficulty in 
doubting that the writers of the Gospels and 
Epistles meant to say that Christ promised to 
come back in person, and that they used the best 
terms in their possession to make this meaning as 
clear and explicit as possible. 

When forced to admit that Christ has been cor- 
rectly reported as promising to come again, and 
that the apostles clearly intended to say he would 
return in person, how do they explain these pre- 
dictions who deny that they will ever be fulfilled? 
Those who reject the divinity of Jesus Christ and 
the inspiration of the apostles make short work 
of the problem. They say that, though the best of 
men, the Master was mistaken, and that the 
apostles were carried away by an unrea- 
sonable enthusiasm. Those who reverence Christ 
as the Son of God say that he did act- 
ually return within a few years after his de- 
parture. They take all that Jesus said in his 
apocalyptic address 15 as applying equally to the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the age, and 
the second advent. They claim that at or near 
the time of the overthrow of the Jewish capital 
our Lord came back in the precise way the 
apostles expected, and with all the dramatic ac- 
companiments specified in the highly rhetorical 
language used to describe it. When confronted by 
the reminder that the judgment scene portrayed 
in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew is there 

14 2 Thessalonians 2. 8. 1 Timothy 6. 14. 2 Timothy 4. 
8. Titus 2. 13, etc. 

15 Matthew 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. 

27 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

made an event in close connection with the Lord's 
return, they do not hesitate to say that the dead 
were at that time resurrected, and that judgment 
w r as pronounced upon all nations. That was "the 
day of the Lord," or "the last day," when the old 
Mosaic dispensation was brought to a close. The 
doom of the wicked spoken on earth was only 
heard in heaven. The advocates of this theory are 
not even daunted by Paul's declaration that. at 
the return of Christ the saints sleeping in their 
graves, together with the saints then alive, would 
be carried away into the air to be forever with 
the Lord. 16 They affirm that this really occurred. 
Proof for such assertions is, of course, not to be 
had, in the absence of any historic record or spe- 
cial revelation. Yet it is held by those who make 
these claims that the very lack of definite infor- 
mation about the church after the fall of Jerusa- 
lem is evidence that the saints of the church had 
actually been removed at about that time. 
Following the narratives in the Acts of the 
Apostles there is no account in existence of the 
activities of the church for at least a half century, 
at a time when it would be natural to expect in- 
creasing results from the Christian propaganda. 
Here we have a mysterious blank in the records, a 
peculiar hiatus in the story, it is said. All is si- 
lence and darkness, It is argued from this that 
the genuine saints had been caught up to heaven, 
leaving only the feeble, indifferent, and inconse- 
quential believers in Christ to manage the church. 
We are not told how the Christian religion under 
such a handicap ever got started again with suf- 
ficient energy to meet the fierce opposition of the 
Roman empire. With such paltry remainders it 



G l Thessalonians 4-. 16, 17. 
28 



THE COMING OF THE LORD 

is impossible to understand the triumph of the 
church. Furthermore, even the weak and un- 
saintly Christians who were kept on earth we 
must believe would have had enough strength and 
intelligence to tell what had happened to their 
children, who in turn would have handed the story 
down to succeeding generations. Such a whole- 
sale depopulation of the church could not have es- 
caped the notice of the curious and inquisitive. 

Moreover, Jesus said enough in his apocalyptic 
address to warn any attentive hearer of his dis- 
course against supposing that with the fall of 
Jerusalem he would appear in person to judge the 
world. In fact, he clearly stated that only false 
Christs would then be seen. 

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here 
is Christ, or there; believe it not. 

For there shall arise false Christs, and false 
prophets, and shall show great signs and won- 
ders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they 
shall deceive the very elect. 

Behold, I have told you before. 

Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Be- 
hold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, 
he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 17 

A great majority of Christians reject the the- 
ory that Christ has ever returned to this world 
in the bodily presence with which he announced 
his purpose to appear, if we understand his words 
aright. On the other hand, many such believers 
argue that our Lord did not intend to convey the 
idea that he would return in any but a spiritual 
sense, and that he has kept this pledge in many 
and various visitations. Those who hold this 
opinion do not expect that Christ will come again 



L7 Matthew 24. 23-26. Mark 13, 21, 22. 
29 



THE EETURN OF THE EEDEEMER 

in person. There are unfortunate associations 
with this position. It is the view of evil-minded 
men who are anxious that Christ should not ap- 
pear, and who are loud in the expression of their 
unbelief. They point to the long centuries of his 
absence, during which the hopes of those who were 
foolish enough to fix the date of his return have 
been repeatedly dashed to the ground, as proof 
enough that the whole matter is a mere product 
of the imagination. Their ridicule was antici- 
pated by one who predicted : 

There shall come in the last days scoffers, 
walking after their own lusts, 

And saying, Where is the promise of his com- 
ing? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. 18 

Doubtless that jeer had already been heard in 
Peter's time. To him "the last days" were in the 
immediate future. Down the centuries the taunt 
of Christ's delay has been hurled at Christians in 
every generation. It will doubtless continue on 
the lips of the scorner. It has no fitness in the 
speech of Christians. The specific outer forms 
of the Messianic hopes of both Jews and Chris- 
tians in their earliest expectations belong to the 
several ages in which they originated, and cannot 
be reproduced in our times. But after we have 
cleared away all that was local, particular, Orien- 
tal, apocalyptic, we shall find back of the imagina- 
tive, the ornamental, the rhetorical, and the sym- 
bolical in these expectations solid ground for the 
conviction that Christ will come again at the 
end of the age, in accordance w T ith the terms laid 
down in Holy Writ. 



18 2 Peter 3. 3, 4. 

30 



CHAPTER II 
THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also. — John 1J/. 3. 

In one of his missionary journeys through 
Africa, at a time when he was in constant peril 
of his life and when it seemed that his plans for 
the redemption of the black people might be 
ruined any day, David Livingstone wrote in his 
journal: "But I read that Jesus came and said, 
'All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations — 
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end 
of the world.' It is the word of a gentleman of 
the most sacred and strictest honor, and there is 
an end on't." 

With equal confidence devout souls have relied 
on the promise of our Lord to return in person 
to the world he is eager to bring to himself. Sus- 
tained in all their trials by the consciousness that 
Christ is always their comrade and helper, they 
still look for the day of his appearing, remember- 
ing that he said, "I will come again and receive 
you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may 
be also." 1 It is on the word of Jesus himself that 
the expectation of his return is most firmly based. 
Indeed, without this there would be no sure 
foundation for the hope of his coming again. 

It will be well for us to group 'the sayings of 
our Lord about his second advent in a single 

J John 14. 3. 

31 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

exhibit, and later to analyze them in detail. For 
convenience let us first take those passages which 
refer to the time of his coming, and afterward 
those which pertain to the manner and purpose 
of his return. 

1. On the time of the second coming we have 
three sets of sayings: those which speak of his 
advent as near, those which speak of it as dis- 
tant, and those in which the time seems to be un- 
certain even to the mind of Jesus himself. Let 
us arrange these sayings of our Lord in the order 
of the differences named: 

(1) The time is near. 

Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Is- 
rael, till the Son of man be come. 2 

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing 
here, which shall not taste of death, till they see 
the Son of man coming in his kingdom. 3 

This generation shall not pass, till all these 
things be fulfilled. 4 

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an 
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 5 

If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that 
to thee? follow thou me. c 

(2) The time is distant. 

So shall it be in the end of this world. 

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity. 7 

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be 



^Matthew 10. 23. 

3 Matthew 16. 28; Mark 9. 1. 

4 Matthew 24. 34. 

5 Matthew 24. 44. Same idea stated often. 

6 John 21. 22. 

7 Matthew 13. 40, 41. 

32 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

preached in all the world for a witness unto all 
nations; and then shall the end come. 8 

(3) The time is uncertain. 

Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, 
shall he find faith on the earth? 9 

But of that day and that hour knoweth no 
man, no, not the Angels which are in heaven, 
neither the Son, but the Father. 10 

Expressions like "My lord delayeth his com- 
ing," u "While the bridegroom tarried/' 12 After 
a long time the lord of those servants conieth," 13 
in the parables which Jesus used to illustrate 
the operations of his kingdom, may be referred 
either to the uncertainty of the time of his re- 
turn or to the probable remoteness of that event. 
In the same way the frequent exhortations to 
"watch" 14 may be regarded as applying to the 
uncertainty of the time of Christ's return, or to 
the probable nearness of his advent, as held in 
the mind of our Lord. It is impossible to deter- 
mine with positiveness. Therefore, we may as- 
sign them to the class of indefinite sayings with 
respect to time. 

2. The manner and purpose of the second ad- 
vent. The remaining passages from the Gospels, 
which are a record of our Lord's words concern- 
ing his return, deal for the most part ^ith the 
manner and purpose of his second coming. Let 
us group them in the order in which they appear 

8 Matthew 24. 14. Mark 13. 10. 
9 Luke 18. 8. 

10 Mark 13. 32. Matthew 24. 36. 
"Matthew 24. ft. 
12 Matthew 25. 5. 
13 Matthew 25. 19. 

14 Matthew 24. 42, 44; 25. 13. Mark 13. 33-37. Luke 21. 
36. 

33 



THE BETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

in the narratives. It will be noticed that the 
work of judgment takes a very prominent place 
in these declarations: 

For the Son of man shall come in the glory 
of his Father with his angels; and then he shall 
reward every man according to his works. 15 

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, 
and shineth even unto the west; so shall also 
the coming of the Son of man be. 16 

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of 
man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes 
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son 
of man coming in the clouds of heaven with 
power and great glory. 17 

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory: 

And before him shall be gathered all the na- 
tions: and he shall separate them one from 
another. ls 

Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting 
on the right hand of power, and coming in the 
clouds of heaven. 10 

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me 
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful 
generation; of him also shall the Son of man be 
ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his 
Father with the holy angels. 20 

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be 
also in the days of the Son of man. ... 

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son 
of man is revealed. 21 



15 Matthew 16. 27. 
1G Matthew 24. 27. Luke 17. 24. 
17 Matthew 24. 30. Mark 13. 26. Luke 2fc 27. 
18 Matthew 25. 31, 32. 
19 Matthew 26. 64. Mark 14. 62. 
20 Mark 8. 38. Luke 9. 26. 
21 Luke 17. 26-30. Matthew 24. 37. 
34 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

I go to prepare a place for you. 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will 
come again, and receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also. 22 

In these utterances of our Lord it is said that he 
will come suddenly, that his return will be marked 
by displays of glory and power, that he will be 
accompanied by holy angels, that he will come at 
a time when men are not expecting him, that his 
purpose will be to judge the world, that his ap- 
pearance will occasion grief to many, but that he 
will receive his own unto himself. 

These declarations are sufficiently clear in them- 
selves, but when taken together with what Jesus 
said about the time of his return they throw the 
mind into same confusion. If we had before us 
everything that fell from his lips on this subject, 
and knew the exact circumstances under which he 
spoke in each instance, our difficulties probably 
would disappear. As it is, we are dependent on 
the somewhat indefinite records of the gospel nar- 
ratives. Our Lord's disciples were more anxious 
for the immediate establishment of his kingdom 
than for any knowledge about the long future. 
This will account in some measure for the vague- 
ness and even the seeming contradictions which 
we find in their reports of Christ's words on his 
coming again. This indefiniteness is best illus- 
trated in the records of our Lord's apocalyptic 
address, which should be carefully read again and 
again in the three Gospels which contain it. 23 

3. Confusion of times and events in the final dis- 
course of Jesus on his second advent. Having re- 
marked that the temple structures which his disci- 



' 22 John 14. 2, 3. 

"Matthew 24. Mark 13. Luke 21. 
35 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

pies were admiring would some day be beaten to 
the ground, his followers recall his previous an- 
nouncement that Jerusalem would be overthrown, 
and ask: 

Tell us, when shall these things be, and what 
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end 
of the world?- 4 

Upon this Jesus begins to talk about the future, 
and speaks words of undying interest concerning 
events which evidently were mingled together in 
the minds of his hearers. The disciples undoubt- 
edly thought that the fall of Jerusalem, the com- 
ing again of Christ, and the end of the world were 
only several aspects of the same tragic crisis. This 
confusion they passed on to others, and we have 
it in the reports of Christ's address which are be- 
fore us. Some scholars imagine they can tell from 
the face of the records where Jesus made the 
transition from one item to another in this proph- 
ecy. Others say that the whole discourse dealt 
with the fall of Jerusalem, and nothing else; still 
others, that the second coming is the only matter 
included, though the fall of Jerusalem is an inci- 
dent of that advent. But not one of these claims 
can be established to the satisfaction of Bible stu- 
dents generally. It is impossible to "prove from 
the accounts given that Jesus said all he had to 
say on the fall of Jerusalem up to a certain point, 
and then moved on to the second coming, which 
subject he finished without going back to the over- 
throw of Jerusalem. Nor is it possible to prove 
that the discourse is to be applied exclusively to 
any one of the three things suggested by the ques- 
tions of the disciples. The minds of these men 
were confused, and they have sent down to us a 

"Matthew 24. 3. Mark 13. 4. Luke 21. 7. 
36 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

report which in its present form shows that con- 
fusion. The reasons for this are not hard to trace. 

1. Though this discourse is spoken of as an ad- 
dress, it was really an informal conversation, as 
were most of our Lord's instructions to his disci- 
ples. It started with a question, and it was prob- 
ably interrupted here and there by other ques- 
tions. We are all aware how conversations will 
turn from point to point, and how a talker who 
has an idea to develop will be compelled, some- 
times quite abruptly, to bring it back to the at- 
tention of his hearers who have for a moment di- 
verted it to some other theme. It is probable that 
this occurred in the colloquy of Jesus on the occa- 
sion of his apocalyptic discourse. It is one de- 
fensible explanation of the seeming breaks and 
contradictions in the reports. 

2. Only four men heard this discourse. 25 They 
told it to others. The words of Jesus were not 
written down till long after the event. They were 
doubtless correctly reported as single utterances. 
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would safe- 
guard the memory of his disciples. 26 But inspira- 
tion does not guarantee that the precise order in 
which a long conversation on several subjects was 
held shall be preserved without the slightest de- 
viation. There are many illustrations in the Bible 
of the fact that the inspired writers did not always 
follow a logical arrangement of their subject-mat- 
ter. But what is essential, the spiritual truth, of 
which the narrative is only a means of convey-' 
ance, is always kept wholly and accurately. We 
know from an examination of the Gospels that 
some of the things reported as having been said in 



25 Mark 13. 3. 
26 John 14. 26. 

37 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

this discourse were also said at other times, or in 
the memory of the writers were set down to other 
occasions, or were intentionally brought over to 
this discourse for the sake of a convenient survey 
of what our Lord had said on his second advent. 27 
In the same way the Sermon on the Mount con- 
tains much that Jesus said at other times than 
the specific day on which that discourse is de- 
scribed as having been delivered. 

3. Jesus made no attempt to correct the opin- 
ion of his disciples that the fall of Jerusalem, the 
second coming, and the end of the w r orld were 
three phases of the same event. The reason for 
this may not be perfectly known to us, but in part 
we can easily understand it. Our Lord had very 
little interest in times and seasons ; he had a pro- 
found concern for great central truths. The near- 
est he came to fixing the date of the fall of Jerusa- 
lem was to say that the generation then living 
would not pass away till it had happened. As to 
the hour of his return, he said he did not know 
w T hen it would occur, and the angels in heaven 
were equally without information. It was a mat- 
ter known only to his Father. How much else 
was kept back from the human consciousness of 
Jesus we cannot know. How much he shared the 
feelings of the people of his own day, whose minds 
were filled with the prophecies found in the Old 
Testament and outside it, we cannot tell. Paul 
has opened room for much speculation in that di- 
rection in his remarkable words about the self- 
humiliation of the Son of man : 



27 For example, in Matthew 24. 17, 23, 28, 37, 41 we 
have what is given as having been said on another oc- 
casion in Luke 17. 20-37. Also, what is found in Mat- 
thew 24. 43-51, as a part of this discourse, is assigned 
to another occasion in Luke 12. 39-46. 

38 



THE PEOMISE OF HIS COMING 

Who being in the form of God, thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God: 

But made himself of no reputation, and took 
upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men: 

And being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
bled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. 28 

Did this humbling of himself include accommodat- 
ing himself to the impressions of the people 
around him, so far as these ideas did not conflict 
with saving truth? Was he indifferent to the 
small mistakes in judgment they were making on 
matters which did not affect their moral and spir- 
itual interests? If so, this will account in large 
measure for the fact that he refrained from cor- 
recting their unimportant errors. In the light of 
history, and on the reason of the case itself, we 
can see how they fell short of the actual facts, as 
time has brought them forth ; but had we been in 
their places, we doubtless should have made no 
clearer statement of Christ's words than they 
were able to make. 

Whatever Jesus may have thought about the 
possibility of a very near occurrence of the things 
on which he was speaking to his disciples in this 
great discourse, it is certain that after his resur- 
rection he had only a remote coming again to this 
world in his mind. It is a striking fact that fol- 
lowing his rising from the tOmb Jesus is not re- 
corded as having said anything about a further 
return. That does not prove that he never did 
thereafter utter anything on the subject of the 
second advent. The argument from silence, even 
in sacred history, is not safe. Moreover, we are 
told that Jesus continued in close fellowship with 



!8 Philippians 2. 6-8. 

39 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

lis disciples till the hour of his ascension, "being 
seen of them forty days, and speaking of the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God." 29 
Among these things it is not unlikely that the 
second coming was mentioned, though it may not ' 
have been understood by the disciples, who we 
know were at that time much exercised over the 
outward setting up of the kingdom. But we do 
know that Jesus was now taking a forward look 
of indefinite length. He had said to Mary on the 
morning of his resurrection: "I ascend unto my 
Father, and your Father; and to my God, and 
your God." 30 He had commanded his disciples to 
wait for the Holy Spirit. He had commissioned 
them to go with the gospel "unto the uttermost 
part of the earth." 31 He had thrown his gaze into 
the long future. He knew that his final return 
would fall far beyond the generation then living. 
From these considerations we perceive that our 
Lord was not speaking of any event connected 
with the fall of Jerusalem when he said in this 
discourse : 

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world for a witness unto all 
nations; then shall the end come. 32 

For the gospel was not previous to that event 
preached in the whole of any world that can fairly 
be denoted by the term, whether the known world, 
the civilized world, the Roman world, the Jewish 
world, or any other world whatsoever. Some will 
answer that it was indeed representatively 
preached to all the world, in the sense that per- 
sons from all parts of the world did hear the truth 



;9 Acts 1. 3. 31 Acts 1. 8. 

"\John 20. 17. 3 -Matthew 24. 14. 

40 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

on the day of Pentecost. This is virtually what 
Luke says in the Acts of the Apostles. 33 But the 
phrase "every nation under heaven" is simply one 
example of many which could be given to illus- 
trate the rhetorical freedom which writers of the 
day gave themselves, and which Luke uses fre- 
quently. 34 The Pharisees are represented in the 
fourth Gospel as saying of the popularity of 
Jesus: "Behold, the world is gone after him." 35 
In the same fashion John declares that if all 
Christ's saying and doings had been written down, 
he supposes "that even the world itself could 
not contain the books that should be written." 36 
It is not hard to understand that kind of exag- 
geration in Jewish writers, and we do not think 
it improper. But with reference to the wide ex- 
tent of the commission to preach his gospel, we 
know that Jesus did not speak in this way when 
he said, "Go ye into all the world," for he also 
gave an explicit statement of his program. He 
told his disciples that they were to be his wit- 
nesses "unto the uttermost part of the earth." 37 
Now, the earth is this planet whereon we live, and 
not any geographical, civil, or social designation 
sometimes called the world in an adapted sense. 
The gospel was not preached "unto the uttermost 
part of the earth" before the fall of Jerusalem, 
which occurred A. D. 70; nor has it since been 
preached to that extent. This ought to put a 
quietus on those who say that Christ may return 
at any moment. He has gone on record against 
that claim. The gospel must "first" be preached 



33 Acts 2. 5. 

34 Acts 11. 28; 17. 6; ?9. 27. Luke 2. 1. 
35 John 12. 19. 
38 John 21. 25. 

37 Acts 1. 8; Matthew 28. 29; Mark 16. 15. 
41 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

everywhere; "then 1 ' — but how soon thereafter no 
one can say — he will come back. 38 

But some will reply that in the sense Jesus 
meant his w 7 ords to be taken, the gospel must have 
been preached in the whole world before the fall 
of Jerusalem, otherwise Paul could not have 
truthfully said that in his time the gospel had 
been "in all the world/' and "w^as preached to 
every creature which is under heaven." 39 The 
answer to this has already been given in what has 
been said about the rhetorical license the ancient 
writers gave themselves. The fact is that the gos- 
pel has not been literally preached everywhere, as 
we know r full well, and no amount of juggling 
with words, however ingeniously done, can alter 
that stubborn truth. 

Over against this illustration of the way the 
words of Jesus may be misunderstood, if reason is 
cast aside, we may place the interpretation some- 
times given to the declaration of our Lord. 

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall 
not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 40 

These words must apply to the destruction of 
Jerusalem. That generation did not pass away 
before the overthrow of the Jewish capital, but it 
did pass away without seeing the return of our 
Lord in any but a spiritual sense, to which we 
shall refer later. It would seem almost unneces- 
sary to pause here long enough to refute the claim 
that in this w r ord "generation" means "race," and 
that as the Hebrew race has not passed away, 
what Jesus really said was, that the Jews would 
not disappear till he came again. But the Jew 7 s 



38 Mark 13. 10. 
89 Colossians 1. 23. 
40 Matthew 24.34. Mark 13.30. 
42 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

are never going to disappear while the world 
lasts, as prophecy plainly affirms and as history 
shows to be very probable. Hence it is foolish to 
press this interpretation, even if the language per- 
mitted it, which it does not. The word here ren- 
dered "generation" is properly so translated. No- 
body would think of calling it anything but "gen 
eration" if he had not a theory to build up which 
the word "race" would help him to construct. 
Brains were given us to use in a natural and not 
in an artificial way. 

4. The several comings of Christ and the final com- 
ing. The key to the seeming contradictions in the 
words of Jesus about his coming again is found in 
the fact that he was not always speaking about 
the same thing. He announced one definite com- 
ing at the end of the age to judge the world, and 
in that final coming he will appear in person ac- 
companied by the heavenly ministers of his power. 
But from the day of his resurrection to this hour 
he has been coming in a diversity of manifesta- 
tions. His rising from the dead was an event of 
the most pivotal importance. It opened a new 
epoch in human history and in the progress of re- 
ligion. It gave the disciples new courage, and fur- 
nished them with a theme for their preaching of 
invincible power. It gave to the church for all 
time a sure foundation for faith in the Son of 
man. The apostles preached Jesus and the resur- 
rection with quenchless enthusiasm. They cease- 
lessly testified that after he rose from the dead he 
ascended to the Majesty on high, but they also 
proclaimed with equal fervor that he would come 
again. 

Our Lord may be said to have come again on 
the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit prom- 
ised by him fell upon the disciples gathered in the 

43 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

upper room. In his farewell discourse to his dis- 
ciples on the night before his crucifixion, as re- 
corded in John's Gospel, he had said : 

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come 
to you. 

At that day ye shall know that I am in my 
Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 

If a man love me, he will keep my words: and 
my Father will love him, and we will come unto 
him, and make our abode with him. 41 

By such words he explained that his coming 
through the Holy Spirit would be a revelation of 
himself to their inner spiritual nature. Though 
they would not see him with the eyes of the flesh, 
yet there would be something essentially personal 
about his coming to them through the Holy Spirit : 

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, 
he will guide you into all truth: for he shall 
not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall 
hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you 
things to come. 

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of 
mine, and shall show it unto you. 42 

Thus the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of 
Pentecost, and the repeated and continuous en- 
trance of the Spirit of truth into the lives of men 
may be regarded as in a true sense the coming of 
Christ. For this reason some have held that 
through this coming were fulfilled those predic- 
tions of our Lord that he would return during 
the lives of those to whom he spoke, and this may 
have been his meaning. Furthermore, on the day 
of Pentecost the apostle Peter declared that the 

41 John 14. 18-23. 
42 John 16. 13, 14. 

44 



THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING 

descent of the Holy Spirit was in fulfillment of the 
events which the prophet Joel had said would pre- 
cede the "great and notable day of the Lord. 43 

But the coming of the Holy Spirit, in so far as 
this can be called the coming of Christ, does not 
fulfill the predictions of our Lord concerning the 
judgment of the world at the end of the age. 
Moreover, one of the commonest of all our Chris- 
tian beliefs is that the Holy Spirit is a distinct 
personality. Jesus himself said : 

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
forever; 

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world 
cannot receive. 44 

But, it is held by others, though the coming of 
the Holy Spirit cannot be actually identified as 
the personal coming of Christ, yet the promised 
return of our Lord did occur in connection with 
it. In defense of this theory it is said that after 
Pentecost our Lord's disciples "came to experi- 
ence a consciousness of his presence which they 
never afterward altogether lost." This is true, 
but in spite of it the apostles still kept preaching 
and writing about his return in the future. If the 
second advent of Christ was contemporaneous 
with the descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles 
did not know it, for they continued to look for 
his return, as we shall see when we come to ex- 
amine their writings. Moreover, to say that, while 
Christ's return is not just the same as the descent 
of the Holy Spirit, it yet accompanied it and 
occurred with it, is only to darken counsel with 
words. 



43 Acts 2. 16-21. Joel 2. 28-32. 
44 John 14. 16, 17. 

45 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

In a broad sense the destruction of Jerusalem 
was a coining of the Lord. It also marked the 
close of an epoch and the beginning of a new age 
in the progress of religion. Judaism was never 
again to be what it had been. But the overthrow 
of the ancient city, frightful as were the events 
which attended it, was not signalized by those oc- 
currences which our Lord said would be insepar- 
able from his coming again at the end of the age. 
It might be possible to say that the portents in 
the sky and the mourning of the tribes of the 
earth were symbolically realized in the awful dev- 
astation wrought by the armies of Titus; but the 
gathering of the elect from the four corners of the 
world, and the final judgment of the nations of 
mankind surely found no counterpart in that 
havoc of war. Neither was there a translation of 
the saints to heaven, for John lived and wrote per- 
haps twenty years after the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, and one cannot think he would have been 
omitted from the list of the elect. All great over- 
turnings, such as the late war and scores of other 
upheavals in civilization, which are in the nature 
of divine judgments, may in a large way be de- 
scribed as the coming of the Lord. In this man- 
ner the fall of Jerusalem may be regarded as a 
coming of Christ. When so considered, it may 
also halp us to understand how the prediction of 
our Lord that he would come in power within the 
generation to which he spoke was literally ful- 
filled. 

The progress of the church and the advance of 
society have been wrought not so much by slow 
evolution as by repeated impulses from sudden 
revolutions and unexpected openings of the win- 
dows of heaven. Widespread revivals of religion, 
great and enduring reforms, extraordinary devel- 

46 



THE PKOMISE OF HIS COMING 

opments in missions, may truly be called the com- 
ing of the Lord. The lives of individuals, not less 
than the careers of nations, are subject to the same 
experience. The Holy Spirit quickens conscience, 
convicts of sin, stirs to penitence, inspires faith, 
imparts the new birth. This is a coming of the 
Lord. It is often as dramatic in its operations in 
a human character as the fall of Jerusalem was 
in the history of nations. Jesus is represented as 
saying : 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any 
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he 
with me. 45 

This is a gracious coming of the Lord, realized in 
the happy experience of millions. On the Damas- 
cus road Paul is arrested by the voice of the Lord 
and the unbearable splendor of the eternal glory. 
That was a coming of the Lord. That kind of 
miraculous advent of Christ to the souls of men 
is startling society every day. The main proof of 
the divine source of our religion is that our Lord 
is publicly coming to such vast numbers of re- 
deemed spirits. Yet no careful student of the 
Bible will say that these sublime triumphs of 
grace fulfill our Lord's promise of his return to 
judge the world. No more would it be adequate 
to say, as some have dared to do, that at death 
we have the final coming of Christ. Such an as- 
sertion empties at one stroke nearly every predic- 
tion Christ made about his coming again of any 
definitive meaning. 

After we have made every allowance required to 
reconcile the seeming inconsistencies in the proph- 
ecy of our Lord concerning his second advent, it is 

45 Revelation 3. 20. 

47 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

still impossible to explain the predictions which 
remain on any other ground than that Christ an- 
nounced in clear terms that he was coming back 
at the end of the age to raise the dead, judge the 
world, and introduce the life of the heavenly 
world. 



48 



CHAPTER III 
THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 

This' same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye 
have seen him go into heaven. — Acts 1. 11. 

During his lifetime Ferdinand Lassalle inspired 
such enthusiasm for his doctrines and such devo- 
tion to himself that when he died his followers 
were at first inconsolable. Gradually the fancy 
took them that a man of such ability could not be 
permanently kept out of the world, and that event- 
ually he would return. Within recent times there 
have been men and women among the Social 
Democrats of Europe who comforted themselves 
with the expectation that their magnetic leader 
would some day come back to guide them and to 
give victory to their cause. 

With a far different feeling the return of Nero 
was looked for by persons w T ithin the Roman em- 
pire, who fancied that this infamous one was too 
mighty to be forever overthrown by death. 
Though there was no sound reason for doubting 
that he had committed suicide, the rumor was 
widely circulated that he was in the Far East, 
and that he would one day come back to the Rome 
he had disgraced by his crimes. So fixed was this 
popular dread that several pretenders were able 
for a little while to pass themselves off as the 
revived emperor. When it became certain that he 
could not have survived in the ordinary course of 
life, he was still supposed in some other states to 
be awaiting the fateful hour when he should make 

49 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

his entry into the world. This superstition sur- 
vived for centuries, and was harbored till the time 
of the invasion of Rome by the barbarous tribes 
of the north. 

Other instances of such an expectation are 
found on the pages of history, and their source is 
the feeling of mankind that persons of surpassing 
force of character, whether for good or ill, cannot 
be bound by the limitations of common individ- 
uals. The most extraordinary expectation of the 
return of a vanished leader is that which the 
apostles of Christianity cherished respecting 
Jesus, and which has persisted in the faith of the 
church which they organized down to the present 
hour. This hope is built not only on the impres- 
sion which the prophet of Xazareth made by the 
greatness of his personality, but also on the spe- 
cific promises which he uttered under the most 
solemn circumstances. 

There is so much in the writings of the apostles 
about the second advent of our Lord that we can- 
not avoid the conclusion that he said much more 
on the subject than is set down in the Gospels. 
Enough has been kept in these narratives to con- 
vince us that Jesus did predict his return, what- 
ever may be the interpretation one may choose to 
put on the words which define the nature of that 
coming again. Yet the total amount of what 
Christ was recorded as saying about thffe event is 
hardly sufficient to account for the importance at- 
tached to it in the minds of the apostles. 

In addition to the words of Jesus, however, 
they had an unexpected confirmation of their 
hopes in the testimony received by them on the 
day of Christ's ascension. At the close of Luke's 
Gospel there appears a statement which would be 
hard to understand if we had not the explanation 

50 



THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 

of it in the opening chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles written by the same hand. In describ- 
ing the ascension in his Gospel the author says 
that after the disciples had seen their Master car- 
ried away into the skies "they worshiped him, and 
returned to Jerusalem with great joy." Such ex- 
altation of spirit would not seem natural in view 
of this separation of their Lord from their fellow- 
ship. One would look, rather, for depression. 
What can account for the joy which sent these 
men back from Bethany to Jerusalem, notwith- 
standing the pain of parting from their beloved 
Teacher, to be "continually in the temple, prais- 
ing and blessing God"? 1 The answer is found in 
the following record : 

And while they looked steadfastly toward 
heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood 
by them in white apparel; 

Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same 
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
him go into heaven. 2 

The apostles who were eyewitnesses of this event 
never forgot the gladness of the hour. Peter, 
James, and John doubtless went back to it in 
imagination as often as they spoke and wrote in 
later years of the expected coming of their Lord, 
and coupled this testimony with the promises they 
had heard their Master make in the days when 
he sojourned with them. It is in the epistles of 
Paul, who says that the Lord whom he had never 
seen before the crucifixion met him on the Damas- 
cus road, that we find the largest quantity of prac- 
tical teaching about the second advent of Christ. 



J Luke 24. 52, 53. 
2 Acts 1. 10, 11. 

51 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

He seems to have made it a prime article of re- 
ligion in his first writings. His letters to the 
Thessalonians were written before any of the Gos- 
pels were published. They are the earliest writings 
in the New Testament, and they are full of the 
doctrine that our Lord will come again. 

The words of the apostles about the second com- 
ing of Christ may here be grouped together under 
topical heads, in order to obtain a convenient gen- 
eral survey of their teaching. Many of these pas- 
sages will receive particular attention later in 
our discussion. It is profitable to present them 
now in one view. 

1. The expectation of the second coming, Let 
those passages be noted in the beginning which in 
a general way show the confidence of the apostles 
in the promised return of their Lord: 

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he 
come. 3 

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
all be made alive. 

But every man in his own order: Christ the 
first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at 
his coming. 4 

Being confident of this very thing, that he 
which hath begun a good work in you, will per- 
form it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

That ye may be sincere and without offense 
till the day of Christ. 5 

Holding forth the word of life; that I may re- 
joice in the day of Christ, that I have not run 
in vain, neither labored in vain. 6 



3 1 Corinthians 11. 26. 
4 1 Corinthians 15. 22, 23. 
5 Philippians 1. 6-10. 
6 Philippians 2. 16. 

52 



THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 



For our conversation is in heaven ; • from 
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 7 

Ye turned to God from idols to serve the liv- 
ing and true God; 

And to wait for his Son from heaven. 8 

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of re- 
joicing? Are not even ye in the presence of 
our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 

To the end he may stablish your hearts un- 
blameable in holiness before God, even our 
Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 
with all his saints. 10 

When the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed 
from heaven with his mighty angels. 

When he shall come to be glorified in his 
saints, and to be admired in all them that be- 
lieve ... in that day. 11 

I charge thee therefore before God, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick 
and the dead at his appearing and his king- 
dom. 12 

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glori- 
ous appearing of the great God and our Saviour 
Jesus Christ. 13 

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins 
of many; and unto them that look for him 
shall he appear the second time without sin 
unto salvation. 14 

Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye 
shall see him, and they also which pierced him. 15 

But that which ye have already hold fast till 
I come. 16 



7 Philippians 3. 20. 12 2 Timothy 4. 1. 

8 1 Thessalonians 1. 9, 10. l3 Titus 2. 13. 

n Thessalonians 2. 19. "Hebrews 9. 28. 

10 1 Thessalonians 3. 13. 15 Revelation 1. 7. 

"2 Thessalonians 1. 7-10. ^Revelation 2. 25. 
53 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely 
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord 

Jesus. 17 

2. Preparation for the second coming. In view 
of the approaching advent of Christ, the apostles 
constantly exhort their readers to prepare them- 
selves for that great day. Under this head the 
following passages may be noted : 

Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ: 

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that 
ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 18 

Therefore judge nothing before the time, un- 
til the Lord come, who both Will bring to light 
the hidden things of darkness, and will make 
manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then 
shall every man have praise of God. 19 

That thou keep this commandment without 
spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our 
Lord Jesus Christ: 

Which in his times he shall show, who is the 
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords. 20 

And now, little children, abide in him; that 
when he shall appear, we may have confidence, 
and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 21 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it 
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we 
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

And every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 22 

3. The purpose of the second coming. Retribu- 
tion and reward are both included in the object 
of Christ's coming again, according to the teach- 
ings of the apostles. The idea of judgment is con- 

17 Revelation 22. 20. 20 1 Timothy 6. 14, 15. 

18 1 Corinthians 1. 7, 8. 21 1 John 2. 28. 

19 1 Corinthians 4. 5. 22 1 John 3. 2, 3. 
54 



THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 

tained in many of the passages already quoted. 
In these which follow the prominent thought is 
that of the glorious recompense for the faithful : 

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 23 

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me 
only, but unto all them also that love his ap- 
pearing. 24 

That the trial of your faith, being much more 
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it 
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise 
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus 
Christ. 25 

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be 
sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is 
to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus 
Christ. 26 

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of 
Christ's sufferings ; that, when his glory shall 
be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding 
joy. 27 

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, 
ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth 
not away. 28 

4. The manner of the second coming. This is usu- 
ally pictured by the apostles in a highly dramatic 
fashion, as the following passages show: 

For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first: 

Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to 



^Colossians 3. 4. 26 1 Peter 1. 13. 

24 2 Timothy 4. 8. 27 1 Peter 4. 13. 

25 1 Peter 1. 7. 28 1 Peter 5. 4. 

55 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever 
be with the Lord. 29 

For yourselves know perfectly that the day 
of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 30 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief 
in the night; in the which the heaven shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the 
works that are therein shall be burned up. 31 

If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come 
on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what 
hour I will come upon thee. 3 - 

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he 
walk naked, and they see his shame. 33 

5. The time of the second coming. This is natu- 
rally of large importance in the thought of the 
apostles. They are agreed that the Lord will re- 
turn in the near future. It is worthy of note that 
in his later epistle Paul says nothing about this, 
though he seems from his earlier letters to have 
expected that our Lord would come again during 
his lifetime. The following examples are signifi- 
cant of the general expectation of the primitive 
church : 

Let your moderation be known unto all men. 
The Lord is at hand. 34 

Xot forsaking the assembling of ourselves to- 
gether, as the manner of some is; but exhorting 
one another: and so much the more, as ye see 
the day approaching. 3 ' 

For yet a little while, and he that shall 
come will come, and will not tarry. 3 ' 3 



29 1 Thessalonians 4. 16, 17 33 Revelation 16. 15. 

30 1 Thessalonians 5. 2. 34 Philippians 4. 5. 

31 2 Peter 3. 10. ^Hebrews 10. 25. 

82 Revelation 3. 3. 30 Hebrews 10. 37. 
56 



THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for 
the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 37 

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which 
. thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 38 

Yet Paul warns his readers to beware of a prema- 
ture marking of signs that the Lord is coming 
back. They are not to be misled by anything he 
or any other teacher may have said which has 
seemed to denote an immediate return of Christ. 
Some things must occur before this will be possi- 
ble. It is evident from what the apostles said 
about being patient that there w^ere Christians 
then, as there are now T , who were eager to hasten 
the Lord's coming, and to run ahead of prophecy. 
In this connection the following passage is most 
interesting : 

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the com- 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gath- 
ering together unto him, 

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be 
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor 
by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ 
is at hand. 

Let no man deceive you by any means: for 
that day shall not come, except there come a 
falling away first, and that man of sin be re- 
vealed, the son of perdition: 

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all 
that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that 
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, show- 
ing himself that he is God. 39 

There are those, however, who will alw r ays ridi- 
cule the notion that Christ is ever to return, and 
to these the apostles pay attention. Such per- 
sons were annoying the followers of Jesus in the 
first century, and they are still with us : 

37 James 5. 8. 

38 Revelation 3. 11. 

89 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-4. 

57 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

There shall come in the last days scoffers, 
walking after their own lusts, 

And saying, Where is the promise of his com- 
ing? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. 40 

Many deceivers are entered into the world, 
who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in 
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti- 
christ. 41 

There are other passages in the apostolic writ- 
ings which refer to the coming again of our Lord ; 
but they do so by implication rather than by di- 
rect statement. What are given here constitute 
the main or principal evidences of the hold which 
the expectation of the second advent had upon the 
minds and hearts of the first Christians. We have 
quoted some passages which certain critics would 
regard as. not necessarily denoting the return of 
Christ, but the well-known expectation of the 
writers would seem to warrant this course. We 
have found on reading these words that the 
apostles firmly believed in the coming again of 
our Lord to this earth. They were convinced that 
he was coming to raise the dead and to judge the 
world, conferring rewards on the righteous and 
retribution on the wicked. They believed he would 
bring the age to an end and transform the world. 
They felt that, with the termination of the age, the 
affairs of time would be finished, and that the life 
of the heavenly world would be introduced for 
those who had been faithful to their Lord. In 



40 2 Peter 3. 3, 4. 
' 41 2 John 7. In the Revised Version "is come" in this 
passage is translated "cometh." Perhaps "is coming" 
would be just as allowable. The sentence is given here 
in deference to those who think it refers to the second 
advent. 

58 



THE EXPECTATION OF HIS COMING 

this hope they lived and died. The centuries have 
swung on. The unfulfilled expectations of the 
apostles have been transmitted to all succeeding 
generations. They live in the faith of the church 
to-day. 



59 



CHAPTER IV 
COMING IX HIS KINGDOM 

Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the 
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven. — Mark 14. 62. 

When Julius Caesar invaded Britain in the 
year B. C. 55 he brought with him the authority 
of the mightiest nation in the world at that time. 
In the legions which marched under his . stand- 
ards, in the rights vested in him as Consul, and 
in the military prow T ess of his own person, he 
carried the Roman commonwealth to the shores 
of England. This was the feeling of the men who 
obeyed his commands as their vessels approached 
the strand of Britain, and they saw the beach 
crowded with hordes of natives warriors, who 
brandished their rude weapons, howled dire 
threats on their enemies, and encouraged one an- 
other with fierce battle songs. In the face of such 
a determined resistance the Roman soldiers fal- 
tered, till the standard-bearer of the tenth legion 
leaped into the sea, exclaiming, "I am resolved 
to do my duty to Caesar and to Rome — follow 
me!" At this display of valor the army of ten 
thousand men flamed into new courage and swept 
upon the coast with overpowering might. It was 
for Caesar and for Rome their energies were spent. 
The vast state whose capital was in Italy, but 
whose authority extended to three continents, 
came to Britain with Caesar and his host. 

When Christ was born in Bethlehem, reputed to 
be King of the Jews, and as such the object of 
Herod's murderous designs, he brought with him 

60 



. COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

the authority of heaven. His coming with the 
rights and titles of royalty had been foretold. He 
never throughout his life on earth denied his 
kingship, though he claimed his sovereignty from 
God and not from men. He affirmed that he was 
a king before Pilate and in defiance of Caesar, 
though he flung no challenge at the Roman empire. 
At the close of his public work he told his disciples 
that he had designated them as heirs of a king- 
dom which he had the right to bestow. He de- 
parted from the world still retaining his authority 
as king. He u sat down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high" — "from henceforth expecting till 
his enemies be made his footstool." 1 He will re- 
turn to earth as a king. He has not abdicated 
his sovereignty. 

1. Our Lord is coming in his kingdom. It must 
be noticed by all careful readers of the Gospels 
that what Jesus is recorded as having said about 
his coming again is associated with the coming 
of his kingdom. When this is not stated in form, 
it is in the plainest way implied. Our Lord is not 
going to appear apart from his kingdom. He and 
his kingdom are described as coming together. He 
uses such terms as the following to show the man- 
ner of his advent : 

"in the glory of his Father with his angels," 2 

"the Son of man coming in his kingdom," 3 

"in the clouds of heaven with power and great 

glory," 4 
"upon the throne of his glory," 5 
"sitting on the right hand of power." 8 



Hebrews 1. c 


\; 10. 


13. 






2 Matthew 16. 


27. 








3 Matthew 16. 


28. 








4 Matthew 24. 


30. 








5 Matthew 25. 


31. 








6 Matthew 2Q. 


64. 


Mark 


14. 
61 


62 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Such language can only befit a conqueror who is 
already a crowned king, and who conies to take 
over what belongs to him. Here the parallel with 
Caesar's conquest fails, for the Roman came to 
Britain to acquire that to which he had no title. 
A perfect earthly illustration of Christ coming in 
his kingdom cannot be found. The conquests of 
human kings are not like the conquests of our 
Lord. Jesus did not represent himself as coming 
in the future to set up a kingdom on the earth 
which had never existed there before. He is com- 
ing to take over a kingdom which has been under 
the care of those appointed by him to serve in his 
stead during the period of his absence. It is a 
kingdom connected in the closest way with the 
kingdom which is in heaven, from the throne of 
which he will then be coming. 

Jesus gave an illustration of this sublime fact 
to certain persons who "thought that the king- 
dom of God should immediately appear." It con- 
cerned a nobleman who went into a far country 
to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 
He had scarcely disappeared before some of his 
citizens set up a standard of revolt, and declared 
they would not have him to rule over them. But 
"when he was returned, having received the king- 
dom," he gave rewards to those who had admin- 
istered faithfully for him during his absence, and 
measured out penalties to those who had neglected 
his business. Then he said : u But those mine ene- 
mies, which would not that I should reighn over 
them, bring hither, and slay them before me." 7 

That parable sounds like a short history of the 
world between the first advent of Christ and the 
time of his second coming. When his earthly 



7 Luke 19. 11-27. 

62 



COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

ministry was finished our Lord went away to the 
heavenly world. His enemies at once resolved 
not to submit themselves to his rule. Their suc- 
cessors have kept up the rebellion to this day. 
Our Lord will return in due time, "having re- 
ceived the kingdom/' to punish his enemies and 
recompense his friends, and to unite the kingdom 
on earth to the kingdom which is in heaven, so 
these twain shall be one kingdom outwardly as 
well as inwardly. In other words, Christ is sov- 
ereign in the eternal world, and has colonized this 
world with a view to bringing both together. The 
kingdom in this world will not realize in itself 
the purity of the kingdom in the heavenly world 
until it has been thoroughly purged. Christ will, 
therefore, at his coming sift the w r orthy from the 
unworthy, and make recompense to all men in ac- 
cordance with their deserts. This is explicitly 
stated in passages, the meaning of which cannot 
be held in dispute : 

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire. 8 

And he shall send his angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather to- 
gether his elect from the four winds, from one 
end of heaven to the other. 9 

2. Our Lord's kingdom is the kingdom of God. At 
the battle of Cressy, in the middle of the four- 
teenth century, Edward the Black Prince, then 
only a lad of sixteen years but able beyond his 
age, c6mmanded the whole English army against 
the forces of France. At the top of a hill on a 



8 Matthew 13. 41, 42. 
9 Matthew 24. 31. 

63 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ridge overhanging the field, his father the king 
watched the battle while his son went bravely into 
the very thick of the fight. When messengers 
finally came to tell him that the prince and his 
comrades were in sore straits, observing that vic- 
tory was near, the king declined to send the aid 
which was requested. "Let the child win his 
spurs, and let the day be his/' he said. At the 
close of the day, made forever famous by the 
valor of the prince, Edward III embraced his son 
in front of the whole army and said, "Right roy- 
ally have you acquitted yourself this day, and 
worthy are you of a crown." The story does not 
adequately illustrate the mission of Christ — no 
earthly analogy can do this; but as the father of 
the Black Prince intrusted the interests of his 
kingdom to his son at Cressy, so God the Father 
committed the kingdom of heaven on earth to the 
Son of man. The day of triumph is to be his. One 
is reminded by the king's words concerning his 
child of the prayer of these brave Christians in 
Jerusalem who, after Peter and John had been dis- 
missed from court with a warning against the fur- 
ther preaching of Christ, besought God that he 
would enable them to speak with all boldness "and 
that signs and wonders may be done by the name 
of thy holy child Jesus." 10 Those marvels fol- 
lowed, and will never cease till they are lost in 
the greater glory of Christ's final victory, "when 
he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, 
even the Father." 11 

All that Jesus said about his kingdom proves 
that in his mind it was identical with the kingdom 
of God. The phrases, "the kingdom," "my king- 



10 Acts 4. 30. 

u l Corinthians 15. 24. 

64 



COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

dom," "my Father's kingdom/' "the kingdom of 
heaven/' "the kingdom of God" all meant the same , 
kingdom to him. He says that at the end of the 
world "the Son of man shall send forth his angels? 
and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that offend." When this has been done, "then 
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the 
kingdom of their Father." 12 Here "his kingdom" 
and "the kingdom of their Father" are one. He 
said to his disciples the night of his betrayal, "I 
appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath 
appointed unto me"; 13 that is, the kingdom he 
bestows upon them is the kingdom his Father be- 
stowed upon him. He said to some w r ho were 
abusing him, "If I with the finger of God cast out 
devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon 
you." 14 Here the kingdom in which he is working 
is the kingdom of God. He said to Pilate, "My 
kingdom is not of this world. . . . my kingdom 
is not from hence." 15 This is the same as say- 
ing that his kingdom is the kingdom of heaven. 

Other passages of like import might be cited, 
but these are enough for the present purpose. 
They make it clear that in the thought and speech 
of Jesus his kingdom and the kingdom of God are 
one. This was also the evident view of those who 
spoke to him about his kingdom. The mother 
of Zebedee's children made this request: 

Grant that these my two sons may sit, the 
one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, 
in thy kingdom. 16 

In another account of the same episode, "thy 
kingdom" becomes "thy glory," 17 suggesting the 

12 Matthew 13. 41, 43. 15 John 18. 36. 

13 Luke 22. 29. 16 Matthew 20. 21. 

"Luke 11. 20. 17 Mark 10. 37. 

65 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

heavenly triumph. The penitent thief on the cross 
said to Jesus : 

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy 
kingdom. 

To this our Lord replies: 

To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. 18 

The kingdom and the King are thus seen to be 
inseparable. He is coming in his kingdom when- 
ever he shall come, and that kingdom is the king- 
dom of God. 

3. Our Lord's kingdom is the kingdom of heaven. 
It would seem that even the few passages already 
quoted would be enough to show that "the king- 
dom of God" and "the kingdom of heaven" as 
used in our Lord's sayings are one and the same. 
. thing. This is not the result, however, in some 
minds. There are adventists who say in the words 
of one of their leaders, "The kingdom of heaven 
as distinguished from the kingdom of God is a 
limited designation." In the theory of this writer 
the kingdom of heaven will be set up on the earth 
"in connection with the second advent of Christ." 
That kingdom will have "for its great object the 
ultimate establishment of the kingdom of God on 
the earth," and this will occur when Christ "shall 
have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the 
Father." Then the kingdom of heaven will merge 
into the kingdom of God. But what of the pres- 
ent? His answer is that neither the kingdom of 
heaven nor the kingdom of God has any existence 
in the world now. But the church is here, and 
he says, "It thus appears that the church at pres- 
ent bears something of the same relationship to 



18 Luke 23. 42. 

66 



COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

the kingdom of heaven that the latter bears to 
the kingdom of God; in other words, it has for 
one of its objects at least the ultimate establish- 
ment of the kingdom of heaven upon the earth. " 
To put it briefly, the church prepares for the 
kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven 
prepares for the kingdom of God. 

If this is so, the apostles did not know it, and 
those who wrote the four Gospels were also in the 
dark about it, for the latter constantly use the 
two phrases interchangeably. In Matthew we 
have "the kingdom of heaven" almost exclusively. 
In Mark and Luke "the kingdom of God" is used 
most frequently. In John "the kingdom of heaven" 
never appears, but "the kingdom of God" does. 
The idea is the same, but the writers evidently had 
a preference as to the mode of expressing that 
idea. The foolishness of trying to give these 
phrases different meanings is seen from the fact 
that in reporting the same event, or in quoting 
what is manifestly the same saying of Jesus, one 
writer will use "the kingdom of heaven" and an- 
other will use "the kingdom of God" Let us look 
at some of these parallels : 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is recorded as 
saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
In Mark's Gospel we have, "the kingdom of God is 
at hand.'* 19 The thirteenth chapter of Matthew 
is noted for its parables of the kingdom. Some 
of these parables, which are there grouped to- 
gether, are found in places separated from one 
another in Mark and Luke. For example, in Mat- 
thew we have, "The kingdom of heaven is like to 
a grain of mustard seed." In Mark and Luke it 
is "the kingdom of God" which has this resem- 



19 Matthew 4. 17. Mark 1. 15. 
67 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

blance. 20 In Matthew we read that "the king- 
dom of heaven is like unto leaven." In Luke it is 
"the kingdom of God" w T hich is thus illustrated. 21 
In Matthew "the kingdom of heaven" is likened 
unto a man which sowed good seed in his field." 
In Mark it is "the kingdom of God" which bears 
this similarity. 22 

There are many passages not directly connected 
w^ith these parables of the kingdom which also 
prove the identity of these two phrases in the re- 
corded sayings of Jesus. In the Sermon on the 
Mount as found in the Gospel of Matthew we 
read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is 
the kingdom of heaven" In Luke it is, "for your's 
is the kingdom of God. 23 Of John the Baptist it 
is said by our Lord, according to Matthew, "He 
that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater 
than he." In Luke it is "the kingdom of God" in 
which this distinction is to be shown. 24 In Mat- 
thew it is said of little children that "of such is 
the kingdom of heaven" In Mark and Luke it is 
"the kingdom of God" to which they belong. 25 In 
Matthew Jesus is recorded as saying to his dis- 
ciples : "A rich man shall hardly enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. . . . It is easier for a camel 
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God." Here 
"the kingdom of heaven" and "the kingdom of 
God" are used synonymously in the same passage. 
In Mark "the kingdom of God" is used for "the 
kingdom of heaven" in this saying. 26 In Matthew 

20 Matthew 13. 31. Mark 4. 30, 31. Luke 13. 18, 19. 
21 Matthew 13. 33. Luke 13. 20, 21. 
22 Matthew 13. 24. Mark 4. 26. 
^Matthew 5. 3. Luke 6. 20. 
24 Matthew 11. 11. Luke 7. 28. 
25 Matthew 19. 14. Mark 10. 14. Luke 18. 16. 
"•Matthew 13. 23, 24. Mark 10. 24, 25. 
68 



COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

we read, "Many shall come from the east and the 
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, 
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven" In Luke it 
is "the kingdom of God" 27 

Other parallels of the same sort might be given, 
but these are more than sufficient for our purpose. 
It is difficult to see how any mind can fail to note 
the positive evidence in the records that "the king- 
dom of heaven" and "the kingdom of God" are 
one and the same thing when used by our Lord. 
The only alternative is to say that the reporters 
were mixed in their ideas and misrepresented their 
Master, a position that even those who hold a dis- 
tinction between these two phrases hardly would 
take. The only reason for giving so much space 
to a thing so obvious is that adventists with a 
theory to uphold, which has become quite influen- 
tial, have deluded, a great many people into sup- 
posing they have hit upon a great truth. What 
they have done is foist on careless readers of the 
Bible great nonsense. 

Our Lord also used more general phrases which 
refer to the same thing. He seemed to take for 
granted that his disciples would understand what 
he meant by 

"the word of the kingdom," 28 

"the children of the kingdom," 29 

"his kingdom," 30 

"the kingdom of their Father," 31 

"my Father's kingdom," 32 

"my kingdom," 33 

"the kingdom." 34 

These and other designations mean the same 



,7 Matthew 8. 11. Luke 13. 28, 29. 
28 Matthew 13. 19. 

29 Matthew. 13. 38. 33 Matthew 26. 29. 

80 Matthew 13. 41. 33 John 18. 36. 

81 Matthew 13. 43. 34 Luke 10. 11. 

69 



COMING IN HIS KINGDOM 

thing, namely, "the kingdom of heaven," which is 
"the kingdom of God." These are not loose 
phrases. They take on a concrete character in 
the speech of Jesus. They become almost as for- 
mal and technical as "the kingdom of Italy" or 
"the kingdom of Israel." They are surely more 
concrete than "the kingdom of truth," "the realm 
of poetry," "the commonwealth of letters," and 
other designations commonly used and easily un- 
derstood. 

We have thus seen in the words of Jesus about 
his coming in his kingdom, as recorded in the 
Gospels: 1. That it is as a king already crowned 
with royal authority and power, and in possession 
of his kingdom, that Jesus is to come. 2. That 
what he calls "my kingdom," "the kingdom," and 
the like, is, in fact, "the kingdom of heaven." 3. 
That "the kingdom of heaven" and "the kingdom 
of God" are the same thing, when used in the Gos- 
pels. These phrases are not found in the Old 
Testament in just the form they bear in the New 
Testament, though in the later prophets something 
approaching them may be found. But the idea of 
the kingdom of God, in which Christ said he was 
coming again to the earth, is expressed at an 
early date in the Old Testament writers, and is 
strengthened, broadened, and enriched as the his- 
tory of revelation proceeds. We shall need to in- 
quire what the kingdom of God meant to the an- 
cient Jews in order to understand the better what 
Jesus taught concerning it. 



70 



CHAPTER V 

THE KINGDOM AS THE PROPHETS FORE- 
SAW IT 

A king shall reign and prosper, and shall ex- 
ecute judgment and justice in the earth. — * 
Jeremiah 23. 5. 

In a day when the kingdoms of men have been 
breaking into fragments it is timely to inquire 
what the prophets thought about the kingdom of 
God. On examining their writings we shall find 
that, in their judgment, it was first of all a king- 
dom of reality and not merely a spiritual ideal. 
It was not a kingdom of dreams, like the lost 
Atlantis, which legend says existed more than ten 
thousand years ago, but was one day suddenly en- 
gulfed by the ocean, leaving no trace behind. It 
was not a kingdom of theories, like the visionary 
Utopia which Sir Thomas More described to his 
generation of social and political agitators. It 
was not a kingdom of artifice, like that of Charles 
Edward, the pretender to the English throne, who 
boasted a royal title when he had but a handful 
of followers to help him uphold his claim. It was 
not a kingdom of selfish ambitions, like that of 
William of Hohenzollern, who so recently saw 
his cruel autocracy dashed to pieces. It was not 
a kingdom of pretense but of power, not of arro- 
gance but of authority, not of fancy but of fact. 
The ancient prophets would have agreed with 
Paul, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but 
in power." 

Furthermore, these old seers believed that the 
71 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

kingdom of God would be made actual in a polit- 
ical program which should embrace the whole 
earth. Jehovah proposed to bring the kingdom of 
eternity within the compass of time and into the 
affairs of this world. He had chosen the Hebrew 
race as the agency by which this sublime purpose 
should be fulfilled. They could not forget that 
under the shadow of Mount Sinai by the lips of 
Moses the Lord had told the Israelites : "Ye shall 
be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people : 
. . . And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of 
priests, and an holy nation. ' ?1 They remembered 
that when a king of his own choice had been found 
for this people, Jehovah had assured him : "Thine 
house and thy kingdom shall be established for- 
ever before thee." 2 David ruled forty years, and 
then the pledge was renewed to his son Solomon. 3 
Though on the death of the latter the kingdom was 
divided and the house of David seemed threatened 
w T ith destruction, the confidence of the Jews in 
the promise of Jehovah was not shaken. They in- 
sisted that the appointed dynasty would not per- 
ish from the earth. They were sustained by the 
repeated word of the Lord that "for David's sake" 
he would preserve the kingdom despite the wicked- 
ness of the kings and the unfaithfulness of the 
people. Through all the troubled years their 
prophets never wavered in the faith that Jehovah 
would fulfill his covenant. At length they per- 
ceived that he would do this by means of a great 
Deliverer who should truly represent Jehovah in 
his own person. 

1. The coming of the Messianic prince. In a day 
of impending doom, when Assyria was thundering 

Exodus 19. 5, 6. 
2 2 Samuel 7.. 16. 
3 I Chronicles 28. 7. 

72 



THE KINGDOM AS PEOPHETS FORESAW 

at the very gates of the kingdom, Isaiah boldly 
said that the invasion would be stopped, and that 
Jehovah would maintain the throne of David : 

And there shall come forth a rod out of the 
stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his 
roots: 

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, 
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowl- 
edge and of the fear of the Lord; 

And shall make him of quick understanding 
in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge 
after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after 
the hearing of his ears: 

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, 
and reprove with equity for the meek of the 
earth: and he shall smite the earth with the 
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips 
shall he slay the wicked. 

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his 
loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 4 

At a still later date, when the overthrow of 
Jerusalem was hastening, and Jeremiah foresaw 
the captivity of Judah and predicted the doom of 
the nation to a people who spurned his unwelcome 
warnings, the prophet exclaimed: 

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a 
King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute 
judgment and justice in the earth. 

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel 
shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby 
he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS. 5 

Thus came into clear view what had from very 
early times been a dim feeling of the people of 
Israel — what had, indeed, been foreshadowed in 
many vague sayings of their prophets, namely, 

4 Isaiah 11. 1-5. 
5 Jeremiah 23. 5, 6. 

73 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

that a Messianic prince should appear, in whom 
the promise made to David would be fulfilled, 
and bv whose rule the kingdom of Israel would 
in fact become the kingdom of God, just as the 
Jews had been taught was to be its destiny. Their 
long line of kings had not been able to meet 
God's requirements, but there would be a renewal 
of the kingdom under a nobler sovereignty and 
with surpassing splendor. 

2. The results of the Messianic reign. The con- 
sequences were to be truly wonderful. What- 
ever evils might for the time come upon Israel, 
the future held only the promise of might and 
honor. Amos declares the restoration of Israel 
to power in these words : 

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of 
David that is fallen, and close up the breaches 
thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will 
build it as in the days of old: 

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, 
and of all the heathen, which are called by my 
name, saith the Lord that doeth this. 6 

(1) The triumph of the kingdom. Israel will 
have such might that other nations, willingly or 
under compulsion, will yield to her sovereignty, 
as witness the predictions of Isaiah and Micah 
which are almost identical in language : 

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that 
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- 
lished in the tops of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall 
flow unto it. 

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, 
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 
to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will 
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 



•Amos 9. 11, 12. 

74 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

And he shall judge among the nations, and 
shall rebuke many people: and they shall heat 
their swords into plowshares, and their spears 
into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up 
sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more. 7 

Equally explicit is Jeremiah, who also adds 
that the separated kingdoms will come together: 

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the 
throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be 
gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to 
Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more af- 
ter the imagination of their evil heart. 

In those days the house of Judah shall walk 
with the house of Israel, and they shall come 
together out of the land of the north to the land 
that I have given for an inheritance unto your 
fathers. 8 

(2) Ideal conditions of living. In the renewed 
kingdom life will be greatly enriched. Nature 
will be more bountiful than ever. Domestic re- 
lations will be most congenial. The discord be- 
tween men and the lower orders of creation will 
be ended. The following illustrations may be 
noted : 

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 
the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the 
treader of grapes him that soweth the seed; 
and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all 
the hills shall melt. 

And I will bring again the captivity of my peo- 
ple Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, 
and inhabit them; and they shall plant vine- 
yards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall 
also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 

And I will plant them upon their land, and 
they shall no more be pulled up out of their land 



7 Isaiah 2. 2-4. Micah 4. 1-4. 
8 Jeremiah 3. 17. 

75 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 



which I have given them, saith the Lord thy 
God. 

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and 
the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the 
calf and the young lion and the fatling together; 
and a little child shall lead them. 

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their 
young ones shall lie down together: and the lion 
shall eat straw like the ox. 

And the sucking child shall play on the hole 
of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his 
hand on the cockatrice' den. 

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea. 10 

(3) Spiritual benediction. Better than any ma- 
terial blessings, and the actual reason that Je- 
hovah will bestow these gifts of physical and 
social welfare upon Israel, will be the spiritual re- 
newal of his people through their turning to the 
Lord : 

I will heal their backsliding, I will love them 
freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. 

I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall 
grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as 
Lebanon. 

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall 
be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 

They that dwell under his shadow shall re- 
turn; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as 
the wine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine 
of Lebanon. 

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any 
more with idols? I have heard him, and observed 
him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy 
fruit found. 11 

In that day shall the branch of the Lord be 



9 Amos 9. 13-15. 
10 Isaiah 11. 6-9. 
"Hosea 14. 4-8. 

76 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth 
shall be excellent and comely for them that are 
escaped of Israel. 

And it shall come to pass, that he that is left 
in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, 
shall be called holy, even every one that is writ- 
ten among the living in Jerusalem: 

When the Lord shall have washed away the 
filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have 
purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst 
thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the 
spirit of burning. 

And the Lord will create upon every dwelling 
place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, 
a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a 
flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall 
be a defense. 

And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow 
in the daytime from the heat, and for a place 
of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from 
rain. 12 

No person of feeling can read these passages 
without being impressed with their rare beauty 
as literature and their splendor as visions of the 
future. Neither can any one acquainted with the 
history of the Jews read them without noting the 
fact that these jiredictions, and many others like 
them, did not find their fulfillment in the na- 
tional life of Israel, at least in the terms in which 
they were couched. We shall understand this 
seeming though not real failure of prophecy when 
we have taken into consideration what the seers 
warned their several generations must take place 
before the predicted reign of righteousness and 
peace could begin. 

3. The judgments of the divine kingdom. Is- 
rael had often felt the blows of divine judgment, 
from the davs of trial in the wilderness under the 



12 Isaiah 4. 2-6. 

77 



THE RETURN OF THE KEDEEMER 

leadership of Moses down to the hour when the 
prophets of the separated kingdoms were writing 
their bitter accusations against both states. But 
still more severe chastisements were to be heaped 
upon them, and until these were undergone the 
glowing prophecies of triumph and happiness 
could not be fulfilled. These punishments, the 
prophets declared, would be shared also by the 
enemies of Israel, who in some instances were to 
be the scourge in the hands of the Lord to chas- 
tise his people, and finally by the wicked and re- 
bellious world at large. 

(1) The day of the Lord. The crisis of doom 
for Israel, for the enemies of the chosen people, 
and at last for the whole world, was described 
as "the day of the Lord," an expression frequently 
found in the writings of the prophets, and after- 
ward carried over into the speech of the Chris- 
tian apostles. It w^as used by the prophets first of 
all to mark the arrival of an event fraught with 
great misery for Israel, and which they could see 
looming before them in the near future. Thus the 
earliest group of prophets, which included Amos, 
Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah, appeared shortly be- 
fore the fall of Samaria, B. C. 722, and in their 
forecasts they had in mind the overthrow of the 
northern kingdom of Israel. v Hence their warn- 
ings are inspired and pointed by that disaster 
which is to overcome their people, and which they 
designate as "the day of the Lord." To that 
catastrophe Amos refers when he says : 

Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! 
to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord 
is darkness, and not light. 

As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear 
met him; or went into the house, and leaned his 
hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 

Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and 
78 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

not light? even very dark, and no brightness in 
it? 13 

Isaiah is speaking of the same event, the thought 
of which must have made the kingdom of Judah 
shudder at the narrowness with which they had 
missed a peril to which the kingdom of Israel 
was to succumb: 

And in that day it shall come to pass, that 
the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the 
fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. 

In that day shall his strong cities be as a for- 
saken bough, and an uppermost branch, which 
they left because of the children of. Israel: and 
there shall be desolation. 14 

The next cluster of prophets in point. of time, 
embracing Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah, Nahum, 
and Habakkuk, appeared shortly in advance of 
the fall of Jerusalem, B. C. 586. They also saw 
the decline and overthrow of Assyria and the be- 
ginning of the new empire of Babylon. Their 
prophecies are therefore full of the doom of Judah 
and Jerusalem. On their lips in unmistakable in- 
stances "the day of the Lord" means that dire mis- 
fortune. To it apply the words of Zephaniah : 

The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, 
and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day 
of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there 
bitterly. 

That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble 
and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, 
a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of" 
clouds and thick darkness. 

A day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced 
cities, and against the high towers. 15 



"Amos 5. 18-20. ■ 
14 Isaiah 17. 4-9. 
"Zephaniah 1. 14-16. 

79 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Jeremiah's prophecy is chiefly concerned with 
the overthrow of Jerusalem and the captivity of 
the Jews in Babylon, and he devotes great space 
and immense fervor of expression to the guilt of 
his people and the terrible punishment which is to 
come upon them from the hand of Jehovah. 16 

Ezekiel thunders his anathemas against the 
false prophets who are trying to discredit his pre- 
dictions during the Exile, which he shares with 
his people in Babylon : 

"Woe unto the foolish prophets, that followed 
their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 

O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the 
deserts. 

Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither 
made up the hedge for the house of Israel to 
stand in, the battle in the day of the lord. 17 

In the short prophecy of Habakkuk we have not 
only the doom of Judah announced, but joined 
with it are woes upon the Chaldeans, whom Je- 
hovah uses to punish his people, together with a 
noble expression of faith that the Lord will de- 
liver his own from the hands of their enemies. 
This conjunction of ideas is also found in nearly 
all the prophecies quoted above. The doom of 
Jehovah falls upon Israel, but deliverance will 
follow. Moreover, even the very foes of Israel 
which have been employed as instruments of di- 
vine judgment will suffer dire punishment. 

(2) The chastisement of Israel's enemies. An 
important element is added to the* meaning of 
"the day of the Lord" by the punishments which 
are to fall upon nations which have persecuted the 
chosen people. The prophecy of Amos begins with 
the utterance of judgments upon kingdoms bor- 

16 Jeremiah. 
17 Ezekiel 13. 3-5. 

80 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

dering on Israel's land, and hostile to her. 18 Mieah 
sees the nations massed against Zion gathered 
by Jehovah < k as the sheaves into the floor." 19 
Isaiah predicts the fall of Babylon, placing it in 
"the day of the Lord" : 

Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; 
it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 



Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel 
both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land 
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners 
thereof out of it. 



Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the 
earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath 
of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce 
anger. 20 

Assyria, Damascus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tyre, and 
other hostile powers are threatened by him with 
sure punishments. 21 Terrible chastisements are 
reserved for Babylon according to Jeremiah ; also 
for other nations which have afflicted Israel, the 
names of which he catalogues. 22 He shows that 
the sufferings of Jehovah's people cannot be 
separated from the Babylonian disaster: 

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is 
like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but 
lie shall be saved out of it. 23 

Against Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, 
Damascus, and other enemies of Israel oracles of 
doom are pronounced. 24 In his prediction of 
Pharaoh's defeat at Carchemish he says : 



18 Amos 1. 3. 2. 3. 22 Jeremiah 25. 12-26. 

19 Micah 4. 11-13. - ^Jeremiah 30. 7. 
20 Isaiah 13. 6, 9, 13. 24 Jeremiah. 

21 Isaiah. 

81 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, 
a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of 
his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, 
and it shall be satiate and made drunk with 
their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a 
sacrifice in the north country by the river Eu- 
phrates. 25 

Ezekiel prophesies against Edom, Philistia, and 
Tyre. 26 He describes the overthrow of Gog and 
Magog. 27 He says concerning the crisis which is 
to bring on the subjection of Egypt 'to Babylon : 

Howl ye, Woe worth the day! 

For the day is near, even the day of the Lord 
is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the 
heathen. 2s 

Zephaniah is not less severe on the nations 
which have vexed Israel. 29 Xahuni predicts the 
overthrow" of Nineveh. 30 Habakkuk, as we have 
seen, pronounces woes upon the Chaldeans. 31 

(3) The punishment of the whole. world. The 
prophets gave a further extension to the phrase, 
"the day of the Lord/' by including under its 
judgments the chastisements of the whole world 
of sinners. It is among the third and latest group 
of prophets that we find this application most 
clearly set forth. These men, in the number of 
whom are placed Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 
Abadiah, Joel, and Jonah, wrote after the exile 
at Babylon and during the period of the restora- 
tion of the Jews to Palestine. Naturally, their 
point of view was entirely different from that of 
the prophets wiio had spoken and written in 
earlier times. The restoration had brought no 



"Jeremiah 46. 10. 29 Zenhaniah 2. 4-15. 

-° 6 Ezekiel 26-28. 30 Whole book of Nahum. 

27 Ezekiel 38, 39. 3l Habakkuk 2. 4-20. 

2S Ezekiel 30. 2, 3. 

82 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

such glorious consequences to Israel as the peo- 
ple had fancied would take place on the strength 
of what their seers had so eloquently predicted. 
Instead of yielding to the depression with which 
such a rude awakening to reality might haye over- 
whelmed a less trustful people, the Jews con- 
tinued to believe that "the day of the Lord" would 
still bring vengeance upon their enemies, the pun- 
ishment of all the wicked nations of the earth, as 
well as the . highest happiness to themselves. 
Whereas they had looked for "the day of the Lord" 
to attend each national calamity as it swept down 
upon them, to be accompanied by the advent of 
the Messiah to redeem Israel, and to set up an 
everlasting kingdom, they now looked for some 
final judgment on the whole world, out of which 
their redemption would appear, and from which 
would issue a kingdom truly heavenly in its char- 
acter. In other words, they pushed the crisis of 
doom and deliverance forward into the uncertain 
future, though in some instances the faith of the 
prophet leaped over all measures of time and 
brought "the day of the Lord" into the immediate 
foreground. The following illustrations will suf- 
fice : 

I will shake the heavens and the earth; 
And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, 
and I will destroy the strength of the king- 
doms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the 
chariots, and those that ride in them; and the 
horses and their riders shall come down, and 
every one by the sword of his brother. 32 

For the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh 
at hand; 

A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of 
clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning 
spread upon the mountains: a great people and a 



32 Haggai 2. 21, 22. 

83 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither 
shall be any more after it, even to the years of 
many generations. 

And the Lord shall utter his voice before his 
army: for his camp is very great: for he is 
strong that executeth his word: for the day of 
the Lord is great and very terrible; and who 
can abide it? 

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 
moon into blood, before the great and the terrible 
day of the Lord come. 33 

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of deci- 
sion: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley 
of decision. 

The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and 
the stars shall withdraw their shining. 

The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter 
liis voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and 
the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the 
hope of his people, and the strength of the chil- 
dren of Israel. 34 

Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy 
spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 

For I will gather all the nations against Jeru- 
salem to battle; and the city shall be taken. 

Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against 
those nations, as when he fought in the day* of 
battle. 30 

But who may abide the day of his coming? 
and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he 
is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: 

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of sil- 
ver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and 
purge them as gold and silver, that they may 
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. 36 

In practically all of the passages quoted under 
the foregoing general division of our subject we 

33 Joel 2. 2, 2, 11, 31. 35 Zechariah 14. 1-3. 

34 Joel 3. 14-16. 36 Malachi 3. 2, 3. 

84 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

have found that the phrase, "the day of the Lord," 
or its equivalent is used. We have seen how flex- 
ible it is as a note of time, often meaning an event 
which is very near, and sometimes reaching for- 
ward to a distant future. It is clear that "the 
day of the Lord" may denote any sharp visitation 
of divine judgment. There is a sense, therefore, 
in which the kingdom of God is always in process 
of coming, according to the view of the prophets, 
though it is finally to come in overwhelming 
power, when the eternal reign of the Messiah will 
be introduced. But other factors than time are 
to be considered in connection with the divine 
kingdom. One of these is the character of the 
citizens of this commonwealth. 

4. A kingdom of personal righteousness. The 
fall of Jerusalem and the fortunes of the Exile 
turned the prophets away from the mere contem- 
plation of the destiny of Israel as a nation to the 
consideration of the future of men as individuals. 
This appears most prominently first in the writ- 
ings of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, though it is not 
absent from the messages of other prophets be- 
fore their time. However, it was habitually the 
practice of the teachers in Israel to think of their 
people as a whole, a nation to which Jehovah had 
pledged his everlasting favor. Jeremiah marked 
a departure from this point of view when he 
wrote : 

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will make a new covenant with the house of Is- 
rael, and with the house of Judah: 

Not according to the covenant that I made 
with their fathers in the day that I took them 
by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
Egypt. 

But this shall be the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel; After those days, saith 
85 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

the Lord, I will put my law in their inward 
parts, and write if in their hearts; and will be 
their God, and they shall be my people. 87 

Here is the doctrine of personal piety as distin- 
guished from the corporate righteousness of an en- 
tire nation. Ezekiel carries the thought of the inner 
spiritual relation of the individual to God still 
farther, and brings us into the sphere of the New 
Testament teaching of personal religion when he 
writes in the name of Jehovah : 

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, 
and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, 
and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 

A new heart also will I give you, and a new 
spirit will I put within you: and I will take 
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I 
will give you an heart of flesh. 

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause 
you to walk- in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 
judgments, and do them. 35 

Thus we are introduced to a conception of the 
kingdom of God, of which the kingdom of David 
was the earthly prototype, which is independent 
of time and circumstance. It is not local and 
national, but universal and eternal. • Its citizens 
are those who have the life of God in their souls. 
An early prophet gave the definition of an accept- 
able membership in the kingdom as follows : 

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; 
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with Thy God? 39 

To the correctness of this test of fitness for the 
kingdom of God all the prophets bear witness. 
Having reached this spiritual view of the king- 

37 Jeremiah 31. 31-33. 
3S Ezekiel 36. 25-27. 
• 30 Micah 6. 8. 

86 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

dom as set forth by the old prophets, we are the 
better prepared to understand the prophecies 
which bear upon the person and work of the 
Messiah. Thus we see that forecasts of royal con- 
quest are to be interpreted in terms of spiritual 
achievement. This is the meaning we should at- 
tach to such passages as Psalm 2; Psalm 110; 
Isaiah 9. 6, 7 ; Micah 5. 2, and many others of like 
character. The spiritual rule of the Messiah may 
be described in figures of earthly splendor and 
physical force, but, in fact, it will be exercised 
through the power of holiness and love. At first 
vaguely, and then more distinctly, the idea that 
the Messiah will serve humanity and suffer for 
its salvation rises to view in the writings of the 
prophets. This conception is suggested in several 
places, but it is most beautifully set forth in 
Isaiah 53, where we have a clearer foreshadowing 
of the Christ of history than perhaps even the 
writer himself realized. In short, the prophets 
foretold the coming of the kingdom of God to its 
outward form in the sovereignty of a Messiah who 
would finally conquer the world by his sacrificial 
love. Thus the spirituality of the kingdom dis- 
places any notion of a physical kingdom such as 
the ancient Jews looked for, and such as some 
Christians in our time are still expecting. 

5. A kingdom of retribution and reward. No 
thoughtful person can read the prophecies of judg- 
ment, of which many examples have been given in 
preceding pages, without having the end of the 
world suggested to his mind by the sublime and 
awful pictures which are drawn in some of these 
predictions. Such tragic scenes appear natural to 
the closing acts in the drama of the earth's career ; 
they do not fit well into any scheme of the world's 
continuance under the old order. The expectation 

87 



THE KETUKX OF THE EEDEEMER 

of the Messianic kingdom has been moved on from 
one crisis to another. It is no longer to be thought 
of as following any merely national calamity. 
Something of world-wide extent is to usher in the 
glorified Davidic kingdom of which the prophets 
dreamed. From the early times of written proph- 
ecy kk the day of the Lord" had looked beyond the 
immediate disaster to some final judgment. 

A hint of this is found in those upheavals of 
nature with which the prophets often accompany 
their descriptions of "the day of the Lord." These 
appear in several of the passages already 
quoted. 40 Two additional illustrations, one of 
which pertains specifically to the judgment/ will 
suffice : 

And all the host of heaven shall be dis- 
solved, and the heavens shall be rolled together 
as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as 
the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling 
fig from the fig tree.* 1 

For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as 
an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do 
wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that 
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of 
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor 
hranch. 

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun 
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; 
and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of 
the stall. 

And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they 
shall be ashes under the souls of your feet in 
the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of 
hosts/ 2 

In the words of Malachi just cited there is a clear 
intimation not only of final judgment upon the 



i0 Joel 3. 14-16. 

41 Isaiah 34. 4. Compare Isaiah 13. 10. 

42 Malachi 4. 1-3. 

88 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

evil world, but also of the blessed estate into 
which the righteous are to enter, a condition 
which seems impossible of realization in a world 
of such disorder as prevails on this planet at the 
present hour. 

6. The kingdom of heaven. In this connection 
we may now ask what has become of those ideal 
conditions of living, those transformed relations 
of man with the physical world and the lower or- 
ders of creation, which Amos and Isaiah pre- 
dicted? This renewed world was associated in 
these prophecies with the coming of the Messiah. 
Again and again a the day of the Lord" came and 
passed, but the promised glory did not appear. 
This did not daunt the prophets. They continued 
to foretell the day of perfect peace and righteous- 
ness. Can these predictions be literally fulfilled 
on this planet as we know it? Can any earthly 
life ever conform to the bright dream of Isaiah 
35? Is Isaiah 55 a picture of things yet to be on 
this globe? Can Isaiah 60. 18, 19 ever become his- 
tory in this world? At what point in these and 
other prophecies does the thought of the writer 
shade off from the contemplation of the earthly 
to a vision of the heavenly? Just where do the 
seers cease sj>eaking of a glorified mortal life, 
and begin to speak of the celestial and immortal 
life? That this merging of the fleshly existence 
into the heavenly realm did take place, as the in- 
spired wisdom of the prophets developed, cannot 
be doubted by any careful student of prophecy. 

7. Summary. We have seen how the idea of the 
kingdom of God developed in the mind of Israel 
from the germinal thought of an earthly monarchy 
under divine supervision until it became, at least 
in the feeling of the most devout seers, a heavenly 
ideal, a glorified kingdom of men, in which Je- 

89 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

hovah would reign with undisputed sway over the 
w 7 hole earth, and which would finally merge into 
the holy estate of the celestial w T orld. Let us re- 
view the steps of this advance. 

(1) The Jews believed that from their earliest 
history as a people the kingdom of God on earth 
had been committed to them, and that through the 
royal house of David it would finally triumph 
over the whole world. 

(2 ) They believed that out of the house of David 
a prince would arise under whose rule all nations 
would be subdued, an everlasting reign of right- 
eousness and peace would be established, and na- 
ture itself would be transformed in order to pro- 
vide ideal conditions of life. 

(3) They were convinced that this endless state 
of bliss would open as soon as Israel had been 
chastised for her sins, her enemies punished for 
their hostility, and judgment pronounced on th_e 
entire world. 

(4) After each national crisis which looked like 
the climax of Jehovah's judgment upon Israel, but 
was followed by no proofs of the Messiah's speedy 
coming to restore the kingdom, they set their ex- 
pectations toward a farther goal. While they 
were successfully resisting their adversaries it 
was natural that their orators and writers should 
speak glowingly of the approaching final triumph. 
When great disasters fell upon the nation they 
still valiantly preached hope to their people. 
When captivity was at an end but restoration to 
Palestine did not bring the glory anticipated, they 
moved forward the probable date of Jehovah's de- 
liverance, but never for a moment relinquished 
their conviction that the Messianic kingdom 
would appear. 

(5) .Gradually but surely they came to under- 

90 



THE KINGDOM AS PROPHETS FORESAW 

stand that the kingdom for which they were look- 
ing would belong only to the righteous, that in its 
highest meaning it was truly a spiritual kingdom, 
and that in this sense it was already in the pos- 
session of those who feared God and kept his 
commandments. . 

(6) Nevertheless, they steadfastly looked for a 
visible and earthly manifestation of the kingdom, 
attended by the advent of the Messiah, and accom- 
panied by the judgment of the world, together 
with such upheavals in nature as would seem to 
indicate the end of the old order. 

(7) Finally they reached the conviction that 
the promised kingdom would take on felicities 
which, while they might begin on earth, could not 
be fully realized till the heavenly world had 
broken in upon mankind. 



9i 



CHAPTER VI 

THE KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PIC- 
TURED IT 

And in the days of these kings shall the God 
of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be 
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to 
other people, but it shall break in pieces and con- 
sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for 
ever. — Daniel 2. 44- 

A celebrated scientist who was much inter- 
ested in geology said that nothing could be more 
hopeless than the chaos of rocks in a district which 
one was exploring for the first time. But after the 
nature of the rocks and of the fossils found there 
had been studied, and the mind had been brooding 
for awhile over what had been discovered and what 
might further be expected, he said light would be- 
gin to dawn, and a fair understanding of the 
whole structure of the place would gradually be 
obtained. Something like this occurs to the stu- 
dent of Old Testament prophecy. He is puzzled 
by the great variety of predictions, and by the 
difficulty of harmonizing them until, like the 
geologist fixing the several strata to which his 
rocks belong, he is able to tell the time, the cir- 
cumstances, and the motives which explain each 
bit of prophetic writing, for we must remember 
that the prophet is always first a messenger for 
his own generation. His utterance is called out 
by some sharp need of the age in which he lives. 
We cannot understand him unless we keep this 
fact in mind. 

We have seen that some of the later prophets, 

92 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTURED IT 

who flourished after the Exile at Babylon and 
during the period of the restoration of the Jews 
to Palestine, were influenced in their speeches 
and writings by the fact that, though prophecy 
concerning the return of the Jews had been ful- 
filled, yet the expectations of the Messianic king- 
dom had not been met. Indeed, the prospect for 
Israel was more gloomy than ever. The people 
of the Lord were in bondage to foreign powers. 
They were harried by their enemies. They suf- 
fered as victims of contending nations, who some- 
times regarded them as a prize to be won, and 
sometimes as a nuisance to be exterminated if 
possible. At this crisis prophecy in its ancient 
form seemed to cease. There was apparently no 
sure word concerning the immediate future. The 
desperate nation looked in vain for deliverance. 
Perils thickened in the foreground, and the bril- 
liant pictures of Messianic splendor which past 
prophecy had drawn began to fade. Still faith 
was triumphant and refused to be daunted. If 
anything, religious teachers were more certain 
than ever that Jehovah would prevail. 

Successors of these loyal souls have reached to 
modern times. Many years ago a Connecticut 
clergyman made a trip to Boston, which was a 
serious undertaking in those days. After his re- 
turn one of his parishioners said to him, "Well, 
Doctor, do you bring us any news of Boston?" 

"Yes," he replied, "the Lord reigns, and the 
devil is trying to." 

The effort of Satan is sometimes more impres- 
sive than the actual and constant rule of the Al- 
mighty. Faith is victorious over appearances, and 
often puts its confidence in pictures of vivid force. 
Thus in the most trying period of Jewish history 
sturdy trust in Divine Providence raised up a 

93 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

class of prophets with a new exposition of the pur- 
poses of Jehovah. These men produced what is 
known as apocalyptic writing. They differed 
from the earlier prophets in the fact that they 
did not put their prophecies in the form of ab- 
stract discourse, but in appeals to the imagina- 
tion. They threw up great pictures of the tri- 
umph wiiich would soon be wrought by the hand 
of God. More than any other prophets these 
men employed their fancy and indulged in sym- 
bolism with an extravagance never before ex- 
hibited. 

1. Meaning and method of apocalyptic prophecy. 
For such inspired revelations we have the word 
"apocalypse." Its meaning is well illustrated by 
the book of Revelation, which is rightly named 
The Apocalypse of John. The characteristics of 
that book more clearly show what the word "apoc- 
alypse" means than any formal definition could 
do. The word signifies "unveiling," "disclosure," 
or "revelation." While all prophecy has this 
quality, apocalypse means more distinctly the re- 
vealing of that which is secret or hidden. Paul 
uses the word "apocalypse," translated "revela- 
tion," to distinguish its message from that of or- 
dinary prophecy. 1 

From early times this kind of secret wisdom 
was claimed by occasional seers. The following 
vision of Micaiah in the time of Ahab and Je- 
hoshaphat is an example: 

And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of 
the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, 
and al> the host of heaven standing by him on 
his right hand and on his left. 

And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, 
that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? 



*1 Corinthians 14. 6. 

94 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTURED IT 

And one said on this manner, and another said 
on that manner. 

And there came forth a spirit, and stood before 
the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. 

And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And 
he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spir- 
it in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, 
Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go 
forth, and do so. 

Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a ly- 
ing spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, 
and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. 2 

Since the apocalyptist deals with such matters, 
his prophecy is lifted out of the realm of common 
life. The earlier prophets for the most part con- 
fined their messages about the kingdom of God to 
the history of this world. They saw that king- 
dom developing in the political life of Israel. The 
apocalyptist, on the other hand, looked away to 
the celestial manifestations of the kingdom. The 
earlier prophets put this earth in the foreground 
of their predictions. The apocalyptist gazed at 
the heavenly life. The former moved within the 
compass of time. The latter reached to eternity. 

Because the apocalyptist speaks of these inner 
mysteries he is compelled to use symbolism rather 
than direct narrative, address, or exhortation. 
This is a necessity of the human mind which can- 
not grasp such transcendent things in any other 
way. It is impossible to define God in ordinary 
or scientific language. Neither can the heavenly 
life be explained in common terms of fact. In- 
spired imagination, however, can symbolize these 
lofty ideas, and thus convey them to other minds, 
which in turn can hold them without attempting 
to express them in formal language. 



2 1 Kings 22. 19-23. 

95 



THE RETURN OF THE EEDEEMER 

All visions which deal with the inscrutable mys- 
teries of eternity may be called apocalyptic, so 
that the vision of Isaiah's call 3 and of Ezekiel's 
commission, 4 accompanied as they are by myste- 
ries which are beyond human wisdom, give us ex- 
amples of the apocalyptic quality before it flow- 
ered forth in such variety and richness of genius 
among the latest prophets. These men deal with 
the supposed climax of history and the destiny 
of the world. Despairing of victory for Israel 
through the conflicts of an earthly type on which 
dependence had earlier been placed, they now rely 
upon the sudden appearance of the Messiah, or 
sometimes of Jehovah himself, to effect that which 
human power cannot achieve. They see God in 
person fighting for Israel and anticipate the re- 
sult in the triumph of God and the destruction of 
his enemies. This will be the turning point of 
human history, after which the Messianic king- 
dom of glory will be firmly established forever. 

If these apocalyptists handled things beyond 
the power of men to know, and were thus forced 
to use symbolism, they cannot be judged by the 
same tests we apply to other prophets. They do' 
not set forth bare facts, but pictures of the im- 
agination. If they use events in the life of a na- 
tion or experiences of individuals, they fill them 
with inspired fancy. Their disclosures are ideal 
rather than actual. What in other writers would 
be dry chronicles are by them glorified into 
visions. We must not, therefore, look for sober 
history in such writings, nor can we find in them 
predictions stating in exact terms things which 
are to come to pass. Rather we have an imagina- 



3 Isaiah, Chapter 6. 
4 Ezekiel, Chapters 1-3. 

96 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTURED IT 

tive clothing of vast results yet to be achieved by 
the power of God. 

The one characteristic of apocalyptic writing 
which must impress everyone is the unvarying 
sternness of these prophecies. This must be set 
down chiefly to the crisis out of which the apoc- 
alypse takes its rise. Every consideration of 
gentleness, kindness, and compassion must be 
swept aside. The enemies of God must be over- 
thrown and no delicacy touching severity or even 
cruelty must be entertained. Yet this dark and 
forbidding aspect is relieved by the felicity which 
is pictured as the reward of the righteous. In the 
apocalypse of Joel, to which we have referred, 
there are bright spots made by the peace and 
prosperity granted to the people of God. 5 Zech- 
ariah also throws an element of joyousness into 
his shadowy and heavy picture of distress. 6 Eze- 
kiel has one of the most beautiful and impressive 
pictures of all. His vision of the holy waters, 
which rise steadily until they are too deep to be 
forded and which bring life wherever they go, is 
a healing balm after the tragic pictures which 
have preceded it. 7 

There sprang up, in the latest age of Jewish 
history, a large body of this apocalyptic litera- 
ture. Most of the writings of this period were not 
admitted to the Bible. Fortunately, however, 
many of them did not perish, and in recent times 
the study of these books has increased, and stu- 
dents of the Bible have become more familiar with 
the conditions out of which they originated. By 
far the noblest of these writings, and the only 
one which was counted worthy to be placed in the 

5 Joel 3. 16-18, 20. 
6 Zechariah 14. 16, 20. 
7 Ezekiel 47. 1-12. 

97 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Bible, is the book of Daniel. In it there is a great 
advance over the older prophecy with respect to 
what is meant by the kingdom of God. 

2. The kingdom and the prophecy of Daniel. In 
certain aspects the climax of prophecy concerning 
the kingdom of God is found in the book of Daniel, 
which is the finest specimen of apocalyptic writ- 
ing in the Bible, with the possible exception of the 
book of Revelation. Its great foundation truth 
is the final triumph of the kingdom of God on the 
earth. That is the fact symbolically set forth 
in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar recorded in the 
second chapter of the work. The huge image of 
terrible aspect, with head of gold, breast and arms 
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, 
and feet of mixed iron and clay, which was shat- 
tered to pieces by the stone cut out of the moun- 
tain without hands, stood for certain kingdoms 
which were to be smitten by the arms of divine 
vengeance. 

And in the days of # these kings shall the God of 
heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be 
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to 
other people, but it shall break in pieces and con- 
sume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for- 
ever. 8 

This is the theme of the book which has detailed 
and elaborate treatment in the last six chapters. 
It contains much that is hard to understand if 
literally interpreted, and much that has been 
grossly misinterpreted by many who have pro- 
fessed to understand it best. But the spiritual 
teachings of the book are not in the least im- 
paired by any man's failure to square its lines 
with the history of the last two thousand years. 
]Nor should we allow ourselves to be cheated of its 



8 Daniel 2. 44. 

98 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTUKED IT 

sublime import by any foolish ■ and useless at- 
tempts to fit it to the events of our own day. 

(1) Doom and deliverance. Just as the 
prophets of the earlier ages picture the Messianic 
era as beginning immediately after the fall of 
Samaria and the overthrow of the northern king- 
dom of Israel, and just as the prophets of a later 
epoch placed the entrance of the restored Davidic 
kingdom close after the Exile in Babylon, so the 
writer of Daniel portrays the Messianic kingdom 
as following upon the overthrow of Antiochus 
Epiphanes, the monster wiiose iniquities made him 
a symbol of the Antichrist who figures so largely 
in the apocalyptic ideas of after-centuries. And 
just as the fall of Samaria and the Babylonian 
captivity and many other disasters occurred in 
the manner predicted, so the conscienceless and 
profane enemy of Israel described in the book of 
Daniel was destroyed in accordance with its 
prophetic forecasts: 

He shall also stand up against the Prince of 
princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 9 

And he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace 
between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; 
yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help 
him. 10 

All this came to pass according to the word of the 
Lord. But just as the golden age of righteousness 
and peace predicted by the earlier prophets did 
not at once follow the crisis which each seer 
thought portended the advent of the Messianic 
kingdom, so in this case the fall of Antiochus 
Epiphanes did not usher in the reign of everlast- 
ing truth and goodness, as one might expect would 
be the result from the words used at the end of 

9 Daniel 8. 25. 
10 Daniel 11. 45. 

99 



THE RETURN OE THE REDEEMER 

the description of the destruction of the kingdoms 
symbolized by the four beasts : 

And the kingdom and dominion, and the great- 
ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, 
shall be given to the people of the saints of the 
most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting 
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey 
him. 11 

Nevertheless, the reality was to surpass very far 
the anticipations of the prophet. The outlook was 
more extended than appeared to him at the mo- 
ment, and the sweep of his vision described a 
wider horizon than even he could realize. 

(2) An heavenly kingdom. The distinguishing 
quality of the kingdom portrayed in the book of 
Daniel is its spirituality, and the divine power by 
which it is to save Israel and bless the world 
shines out of all the pictures of triumph drawn 
by the writer's fervid imagination. 

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and 
the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was 
white as snow, and the hair of his head like the 
pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, 
and his wheels as burning fire. 

A fiery stream issued and came forth from be- 
fore him: thousand thousands ministered unto , 
him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood 
before him: the judgment was set, and the books 
were opened. 12 

The setting of the scene is the eternal world, but 
the kingdom must manifest itself to the sons of 
men. It is not of the earth, but it must be brought 
to the peoples of the earth. 

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like 
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, 
and came to the Ancient of Days, and they 
brought him near before him. 



"Daniel 7. 27. 
12 Daniel 7. 9, 10. 

100 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTURED IT 

And there was given him dominion, and glory, 
and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and lan- 
guages, should serve him: his dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, 
and his kingdom that which shall not be de- 
stroyed. 13 

Furthermore, it is a kingdom of men as well as* 
a kingdom of God. They who obtain the kingdom 
have their citizenship from heaven, but they have 
admission to it on the earth. 

But the saints of the most High shall take the 
kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even 
forever and ever. 14 

1 beheld, and the same horn made war with 
the saints, and prevailed against them; 

Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment 
was given to the saints of the most High; and 
the time came that the saints possessed the king- 
dom. 15 

Theirs is a spiritual triumph, and their kingdom 
is a kingdom of "righteousness, and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost." 16 

(3) The resurrection and the kingdom. The 
fact that the resurrection of the saints who fall 
asleep before the triumph of the Messiah is neces- 
sary in order to complete the kingdom began to 
dawn dimly upon the minds of the earlier 
prophets, but in the book of Daniel it comes like 
the sun in its first glory. If we were left to the 
bare records of the people of Israel for a judg- 
ment of how soon they attained the idea of a per- 
sonal triumph over death, we should be compelled 
to think that they were slow to reach it. But 
knowing how deeply implanted in the human 
spirit is the hope of survival after death, even 
among the least enlightened tribes, we imagine 

13 Daniel 7. 13, 14. "Daniel 7. 21, 22. 

14 Daniel 7. 18. 16 Romans 14. 17. 

101 



THE RETUKN OF THE EEDEEMER 

the Hebrews entertained the expectation of a fu- 
ture life long before they set it down in definite 
terms in their writings. However, the doctrine 
of the resurrection was of very gradual growth. 
Hints of it appear in the early prophets, and else- 
where, but the first gleams of the hope seem to 
refer almost wholly to the resurrection of Israel 
as a nation, entirely apart from the fate of in- 
dividuals. Into whatever ruin the kingdom of 
David may fall, its rising again is assured. This 
would seem to be the meaning in the following 
passages : 

After two days will he revive us: in the third 
day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his 
sight. 17 

I will ransom them from the power of the 
grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, 
I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy de- 
struction. 15 

In EzekiePs vision of the valley of dry bones the 
restoration of the nation is depicted, as the inter- 
pretation supplied by the text itself seems clearly 
to affirm : 

Son of man, these bones are the whole house 
of Israel. 10 

But in the prophecy of Isaiah we have a passage 
which points definitely to the resurrection of in- 
dividuals. It concludes with these words : 

Thy dead men shall live, together with my 
dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, 
ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew 
of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. 20 

It is in the book of Daniel, however, that the resur- 



17 Hosea 6. 2. 19 Ezekiel 37. 11. 

18 Hosea 13. 14. 20 Isaiah 26. 19. 

102 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTUKED IT 

rection hope reaches its climax among Old Testa- 
ment writers. 

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and 
some to shame and everlasting contempt. 21 

Here we have a resurrection of the bad as well as 
of the good, which is a distinct advance on the 
statements of the other prophets. While it is 
likely that the writer has in mind the resurrection 
of Israel, he gives warrant for a hope as wide as 
the world of humanity. 

This resurrection is described as occurring im- 
mediately after the overthrow of Antiochus 
Epiphanes. It will be a time of intense anguish, 
but it will issue in a magnificent deliverance for 
the people of Jehovah : 

And at that time' shall Michael stand up, the 
great prince which standeth for the children of 
thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, 
such as never was since there was a nation even 
to that same time: and at that time thy people 
shall be delivered, every one that shall be found 
written in the book. 22 

The future of this prophet, like the future of the 
prophets who preceded him, was too much fore- 
shortened. The mighty triumph still waits the 
trump of the Lord. But the joy of victory flames 
in the souls of men. In the book of Daniel, as in 
the older prophecies, "the day of the Lord" is 
both a crisis of doom and an occasion of deliver- 
ance. It is an event of tragedy and a day of bliss. 
So Habakkuk's noble prayer declares. 23 So the 
book of Daniel affirms. 

And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 

21 Daniel 12. 2. 
22 Daniel 12. 1. 
, 23 Chapter 3. 

103 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ness of the firmament; and they that turn many 
to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. 24 

Thus we see how distinctly prophecy advanced 
in its eoneejmon of the kingdom of God during the 
latest age of Jewish history. The spirituality and 
eternity of the kingdom, the person and character 
of the Messiah who was to administer the king- 
dom, the resurrection of the dead to make possible 
the final judgments of the kingdom are doctrines 
which reach their highest development in the book 
of Daniel. Here they are wrapped in those weird 
apocalyptic garments which in the later prophets 
began to displace the more practical and prosaic 
clothing of an earlier age. The more mysterious 
became the blending of heaven and earth in their 
conceptions of the kingdom of God, the more 
highly wrought became the imagery with which 
they sought to express their lofty musings. 

In the centuries immediately following the close 
of the Old Testament writings these apocalyptic 
dreams increased even to the point of excessive 
symbolism. Nevertheless, they carried forward 
the hopes of Israel, and shaped the minds of the 
Jews for better thoughts of the kingdom down to 
the birth of Jesus. The books which contain these 
grotesque fancies were probably popular enough 
in their own day, but they have been read by few 
persons in our time. They do not bear the stamp 
of divine inspiration, and therefore did not find 
their way into the Bible, but they help us to un- 
derstand the mood of Israel when the Messiah 
actually came. 

Meanwhile, the world was waiting; and in the 
pause many a well-instructed^scribe was doubtless 
pondering in the deeps of his soul the closing 

24 Danie] 12. 3. 

104 



KINGDOM AS APOCALYPSE PICTURED IT 

words on "the day of the Lord" written by a 
prophet whose lines flamed with the inspiration of 
the Almighty : 

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet be- 
fore the coming of the great and dreadful day of 
the Lord: 

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to 
the children, and the heart of the children to 
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth 
with a curse. 25 



!5 Malachi 4. 5, 6. 



105 



CHAPTEE VII 
THE KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

My kingdom is not of this world: if my king- 
dom were of this world, then would my servants 
fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: 
but now *is my kingdom not from hence. — John 

18. 36. 

What Jesus thought of the kingdom is of far 
more importance than what any other person 
thought of it before he came into the world, or 
what any other person has thought of it since he 
left the world. To say this casts no reflection on 
the prophets, nor does it take away any credit 
from the apostles. We know that Jesus paid 
great honor to the prophets, and that he trusted 
his plan for reaching the world by the preaching 
of the kingdom to the apostles. But we also know T 
that he had his own w T ay of applying the words 
of the prophets, and that to the end of his min- 
istry among men he kept correcting the bent of 
the apostles to misunderstand his kingdom. He 
told his disciples that fuller knowledge would 
come to them through the Holy Spirit, who would 
enlighten them after his departure, but this il- 
lumination would be simply the enlargement of 
their vision respecting what he had said. It is 
certain, therefore, that the words of Christ about 
the kingdom are of more value than any words 
whatsoever. A reverent stud} 7 of these words will 
make more clear the prophecies of old time, and 
also prepare our minds the better to understand 
the teachings of the apostles. 

The first impression one gets on taking up the 
106 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

records of Christ's public ministry is his quick 
fitting of his message concerning the kingdom to 
that of John the Baptist. The prophecy that 
Elijah would appear before "the day of the Lord" 
seemed to have its fulfillment in the lonely prophet 
of the Jordan, who was the herald of the kingdom, 
and who was sent to prepare the way of the 
Lord. 1 In the preaching of John one sees some 
of the features which stood out in the proclama- 
tions of the ancient prophets. He affirmed that 
the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It rose be- 
fore him in the immediate foreground, as it had 
risen before to the seers of old. It also fore- 
tokened a time of judgment. There was doom in 
the coming of the kingdom, as there had been 
according to the visions of long ago. There was 
the same call for amendment of life. The crisis 
was on, "the day of the Lord" was at the door. 
It was not enough to be sons of Abraham accord- 
ing to the flesh. A reformed character was de- 
manded. There was hope only for the penitent. 

Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand. 

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repent- 
ance. 

And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the 
trees. 

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thor- 
oughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into 
the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with 
unquenchable fire. 2 

In response to such preaching immense crowds 
waited on the ministry of John, and with terror 
in their hearts anxiously asked, "What shall wfe 
do then?" 3 The vast throngs which followed him 



"Malachi 4. 5. 
2 Matthew 3. 2, 8, 10, 12. 
3 Luke 3. 10, 12, 14. 

107 



THE RETUBN OF THE REDEEMER 

were not due wholly to his eloquence as a preacher. 
They were also drawn to him by the somber fore- 
casts of judgment which filled his appeals to their 
consciences. John centered these alarms in the 
person of Christ, within whose power he showed 
that both doom and deliverance rested. 

And as the people were in expectation, and all 
men mused in their hearts of John, whether he 
were the Christ, or not; 

John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed 
baptize you with water; but one mightier than I 
cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not 
worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the 
Holy Ghost and with fire. 4 

Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I 
am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but 
the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and 
heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the 
bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is 
fulfilled. 

He must increase, but I must decrease. 5 

Into this position, as into an inheritance, Jesus 
immediately stepped. He accepted the place as- 
signed to him by John as his eternal right. He 
presented himself as the one great person of the 
kingdom. In him it centered, and around him it 
would grow to completion. 

1. The kingdom has received its Messiah. The 
striking thing about Christ is that he is not re- 
quired to win his way to place and power by 
achievement. He simply takes a throne which 
has been awaiting him, like any first-born son of 
a king, who has an undisputed title to a scepter. 
John has no sooner pointed to him as the true 
Christ than he draws the disciples of the Baptizer 
after him and begins to instruct them about the 



4 Luke 3. 15, 16. 
5 John 3. 28-30. 

108 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PKEACHED IT 

kingdom. Andrew and Peter, Philip and Na- 
thanael, and other inquirers after truth, forsake 
their former teacher, and without a moment's 
pause go forward in company with Jesus, who re- 
ceives their devotion as justly due to him. When 
■Nathanael expresses amazement at his super- 
natural powers, Jesus promises still greater won- 
ders : 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye 
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God 
ascending and descending upon the Son of man. 8 

There was never any question with our Lord as 
to his place in the kingdom. When messengers 
came from John, who was soon to lose his life, and 
asked Jesus, "Art thou he that should come, or 
do we look for another?" his instant reply was: 

Go and show John again those things which 
ye do hear and see: 

The blind receive their sight, and the lame 
walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, 
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the 
gospel preached to them. 

And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be of- 
fended in me. 7 

Jesus w T as sure of his ground, however hesitant 
others might be to yield him first place in the 
kingdom. 

Whenever there was need he frankly avowed his 
Messiahship before all men, though he chided his 
disciples for making too much of it in the pres- 
ence of a gainsaying world. Everything promised 
by the ancient prophets as an endowment of the 
Davidic prince who should redeem Israel he 
claimed for himself. He stood up in the syna- 
gogue at Nazareth and read a familiar passage 

°John 1. 51. 
7 Matthew 11. 4-6. 

109 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

from Isaiah which plainly described the Messiah, 
and said : "This day is this scripture fulfilled in 
your ears." The words were these: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the 
poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken- 
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, 
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, 

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 8 

Having asked his disciples who men thought he 
w^as, and who they themselves supposed him to be, 
Peter responded, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
the living God." Then Jesus commended him for 
his insight, saying that it was a divine inspira- 
tion. 9 By his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he 
gave a most impressive evidence of the central 
place he believed himself to fill in the kingdom. 
He accepted as his rightful tribute the acclaim of 
the multitude: 

Blessed be the King that cometh in the name 
of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the 
highest. 10 

This story is in all the Gospels. It made a deep 
mark on the minds of all thoughtful persons who 
witnessed the event. Jesus thus claimed the 
honor of royalty, even the kingship of the house 
of David, while at the same time by the humility 
of his manner, and by the death to which he knew 
this display was leading him, he rebuked the fond 
ambitions of his disciples for a kingdom of mate- 
rial splendor. When at last he stood condemned 
by an unjust tribunal before final sentence had 
been pronounced, when the high priest said, "I 

*Luke 4. 18, 19. Isaiah 61. 1-3. 
9 Matthew 16. 13-17. 
10 Luke 19. 38. 

110 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us 
whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God," 
Jesus replied : 

Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, 
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on 
the right hand of power, and coming in the 
clouds of heaven. 11 

Moreover, he was often speaking of "my kingdom," 
or when he referred to himself in the third person, 
of "his kingdom." There was no doubt in his 
mind that he was the king of whom the prophets 
had dreamed and the poets had sung, in the long- 
gone days if Israel's national strength. . 

2. The kingdom is everlasting. There was a note 
of finality in the kingdom as Jesus preached it. 
In this he also put forward one of the most char- 
acteristic features of the kingdom as predicted by 
the old prophets. When once it should appear in 
its messianic splendor it would last forever. Jesus 
w r as hailed as the son of David. The first Gospel in 
its first sentence carries that declaration. It runs 
here and there through all the Gospels, sometimes 
by direct statement, sometimes by inference. Al- 
ways it has more than the meaning that Jesus is 
simply of the family of David. He is the great- 
est son of the king who is ,to fulfill all the promises 
made to the ancient monarch, whose name has 
come down the centuries as that of the progenitor 
of the Messiah. Jesus never disavows the title, 
whether it be given to him by the blind man who 
appeals to him for mercy, 12 or by the crowd flow- 
ing after him into Jerusalem crying, "Hosanna 
to the son of David." 13 

To the son of David was guaranteed an ever- 

"Matthew 26. 63, 64. 
12 Mark 10. 47. 
13 Matthew 21. 9. 

Ill 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

lasting kingdom. The angel Gabriel gladdened 
the heart of Mary the mother of Jesus by telling 
her that this promise referred to her son : 

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son 
of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto 
him the throne of his father David. And he 
shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and 
of his kingdom there shall be no end. 14 

When Jesus had come to manhood's estate and 
had entered upon his public career, he quietly ac- 
cepted all that was actually involved in the 
prophetic announcement : 

And the government shall be upon his shoul- 
der: and his name shall be called Wonder- 
ful, Counseler, The mighty God, The everlasting 
Father, The Prince of Peace. 

Of the increase of his government and peace 
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, 
and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to estab- 
lish it with judgment and with justice from 
henceforth even for ever. 15 

It is true that he was often forced to set his dis- 
ciples straight concerning the nature, of his gov- 
ernment, and to make clear the kind of peace 
he came to give and the way it was to be found, 
nevertheless, he never denied that he was a king, 
and that his was an everlasting kingdom. On the 
other hand, he always sought to make this as 
plain as possible. When Peter was anxious to 
know what one might expect as a reward who had 
given up everything to follow Christ, the Master 
said: 

There is no man that hath left house, or par- 
ents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the 
kingdom of God's sake, 

Who shall not receive manifold more in this 



14 Luke 1. 32, 33. 2 Samuel 7. 16. 
15 Isaiah 9. 6, 7. 

112 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

present time, and in the world to come life ever- 
lasting. 10 

His authority was thus to extend into eternity. 
His kingdom was not a temporary expedient for 
getting people through this life; it was not a 
mere bridge from one world to another; it was a 
kingdom that stretched away to the life beyond 
in the everlasting world. He said : 

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my 
words shall not pass away. 17 

2. The kingdom brings doom and deliverance. The 
same tone of judgment which ran through the 
predictions of the old prophets concerning the 
kingdom of God comes out sharply in the words 
of Jesus respecting the coming of his kingdom. 
Judgment includes the giving of rewards to the 
righteous and the appointing of retributions to the 
wicked. Jesus declares that it is his kingdom 
which is finally to master the world and bring it 
to judgment : 

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory: 

And before him shall be gathered all nations: 
and he shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; 
and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but 
the goats on the left. 18 

The same truth is set forth vividly in the parable 
of the tares : 

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned 
in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this 
world. 

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, 



16 Luke 18. 29, 30. Mark 10. 29, 30. 
17 Matthew 24. 35. 
18 Matthew 25. 31-33. 

113 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

and they shall gather out of his kingdom all 
things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun 
in the kingdom of their Father. 19 

In a similar vein, when describing the end of the 
age, he speaks of the judgment he would then exe- 
cute in these terms : 

And he shall send his angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather to- 
gether his elect from the four winds, from one 
end of heaven to the other. 20 

We are not surprised that in our Lord's sayings 
about the judgment of the kingdom, many of 
which are like scores of the pictorial forecasts of 
the ancient prophets, Jesus should use expres- 
sions wmich seem to have in them the idea of a 
physical or material kingdom, after the style so 
frequently shown in the visions of the older seers. 
The following are sufficient examples of this 
method of speech : 

But I say unto you, I w T ill not drink hence- 
forth of this fruit of the vine, until that day 
when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
kingdom. 21 

I appoint you a kingdom, as my Father hath 
appointed unto me; 

That ye may eat and drink at my table in my 
kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 22 

Verily I say unto you, That ye which have fol- 
lowed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also 
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel. 23 



^"Matthew 13. 40-43. -Luke 22. 29, 30. 

20 Matthew 24. 31. 23 Matthew 19. 28. 

21 Matthew 26. 29. 

114 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with 
me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and 
am set down with my Father in his throne. 24 

The last of these citations is from the Apocalypse 
of John, but.it is a sentence which he places on the 
lips of the ascended and glorified Christ, and is a 
faithful transcript of the imagery which Jesus 
used. How unwise it is to consider such utter- 
ances as descriptions of an outward and physical 
kingdom is show r n here and there in our discus- 
sion. Yet there is a sense in which something 
akin to a literal understanding of such passages 
may properly be held. To this attention w r ill be 
given in due time. Just here it is enough for us 
to perceive how close to the lines of ancient proph- 
ecy Jesus ran even in his use of symbolism. 

3. The kingdom is near. It has been noted that 
the old prophets almost always spoke of "the 
day of the Lord" as being at the door. They 
looked for the judgment of the kingdom and the 
redemption of the righteous in the very near fu- 
ture. Jesus frequently speaks in the same way. 
Indeed, he often pictures the kingdom as already 
present, and judgment as already in process. He 
took his first text straight from the lips of John 
the Baptist : 

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus 
,ame into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the 
kingdom of God. 

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the king- 
dom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe 
the gospel. 25 

He proceeded, as we have seen, with the same 
message of doom and deliverance. He said that 
the prophecy in Isaiah 61. 1-3 was being fulfilled 

24 Revelation 3. 21. 
25 Mark 1. 14, 15. 

115 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

in the very hour he was addressing the congrega- 
tion in the synagogue at Nazareth. 26 It was a 
fact of the present. The kingdom was at hand. 
This he commanded his disciples to repeat to 
others : 

As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand. 27 

He instructed the seventy whom he selected to 
go "before his face into every city and place, 
whither he himself would come/' that in whatso- 
ever place they were repulsed they should go out 
into the streets and says: 

Even the very dust of your city, which 
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: 
notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the king- 
dom of God is come nigh unto you. 28 

All our Lord's utterances about the Son of man 
coming in his kingdom while the men who were 
listening to his words were still living are to the 
same effect. 29 When the Pharisees accused Jesus 
of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, 
the prince of devils, Jesus replied that if Satan 
were to cast out Satan, that would be a kingdom 
divided against itself, and therefore doomed to 
destruction. He was himself serving an opposing 
kingdom. 

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, 
no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. 30 

The passage would bear the rendering, "the king- 
dom of God is come upon you sooner than you ex- 
pected." Explaining the greatness of John the 

2G Luke 4. 18-21. 
"Matthew 10. 7. 
28 Luke 10. 11. 

2J Matthew 10. 23. Matthew 16. 28. Mark 9. 1. 
30 Luke 11. 20. Matthew 12. 28. 
116 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PEEACHED IT 

Baptist, and the still nobler greatness of those 
who are in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says : 

From the days of John the Baptist until now 
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 
the violent take it by force. 31 

Again our Lord says concerning the work of the 
same preacher of righteousness: 

The law and the prophets were until John: 
since that time the kingdom of God is preached, 
and every man presseth into it. 32 

Jesus says to the scribe whose character and in- 
telligence he admires : 

Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. 33 

In all these passages there is something deeper 
than mere nearness in point of time, and to this 
we shall refer later, but certainly the kingdom of 
which Jesus speaks is a present kingdom. We 
may say the same with regard to our Lord's re- 
buke of his own generation who were rejecting 
him: 

The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, 
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
thereof. 34 

If the kingdom were not a present fact, it surely 
could not be taken away from those who had it 
and given to others. The Pharisees having asked 
him when the kingdom of God was coming, he 
replied : 

The kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
tion: 

Neither shall they say, Lo,here! or, lo there! 
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 35 



31 Matthew 11. 12. 34 Matthew 21. 43. 

32 Luke 16. 16. 35 Luke 17. 20, 21. 

S3 Mark 12. 34. 

117 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Some prefer to translate "among you" or "in the 
midst of you," in place of "within you" ; but that 
only makes the presence of the kingdom at the 
time Jesus is speaking all the more certain. Jesus 
called attention to the fact recently observed by 
his hearers that, while the rulers and elders of the 
people turned away from the preaching of John 
the Baptist, some of the lowest classes believed 
in his message and brought forth fruits meet for 
repentance. Therefore our Lord says : 

Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and 
the harlots go into the kingdom of God before 
you. 36 

That is an event which has occurred, and which is 
still occurring at the time Jesus is speaking. Our 
Lord bitterly denounces the scribes and Pharisees 
and gives the following reason among others : 

Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against 
men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither 
suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 37 

These words are expressive of a condition that is 
at that very time existing. Other passages there 
are which lead us to the same conclusion, but 
these which are given herewith are so plain that 
they should put an end to all controversy. Jesus 
unmistakably held that the kingdom existed, not 
merely as a sublime ideal which would at some 
time be realized in a world of perfect righteous- 
ness, but also as a realm already so manifesting 
itself among men and women, that they could see 
it and make themselves citizens of it. The mul- 
titude, perhaps ignorantly but none the less truly, 
declared this fact in their applause at our Lord's 
triumphal entry into' Jerusalem, when they cried: 

30 Matthew 21. 31. 
37 Matthew 23. 13. 

118 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, 
that cometh in the name of the Lord. 38 

4, The kingdom is progressive. The parables of 
growth spoken by our Lord introduce us to an- 
other view of the kingdom, in which Jesus was 
also in accord with the ideas expressed by the 
ancient prophets. He thought of it not only as 
at hand, but as a progressive movement develop- 
ing to fullness of power. He likened it to the 
seed germinating in the ground. 

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should 
cast seed into the ground; 

And should sleep, and rise night and day, and 
the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth 
not how. 

For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; 
first the blade, then the ear, after that the full 
corn in the ear. 39 

The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is pervaded by 
the same idea. It is there further illustrated by 
the process of fermentation in the making of 
bread through the introduction of yeast into the 
dough. 

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, 
which a woman took, and hid in three measures 
of meal, till the whole was leavened. 40 

As to the meaning of leaven in this passage we 
shall. have something to offer later, 41 since there is 
a dispute about it; but it is sufficient here to 
observe that the parable teaches how extensively 
the kingdom of God is to develop in society. The 
same truth is set forth in the parable of the mus- 
tard seed, of which also a strange theory has been 

38 Mark 11. 10. 
39 Mark 4. 26-28. 
40 Matthew 13. 33. 
4l See page 178. 

119 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

invented, to which reference will be made here- 
after. 42 

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of 
mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in 
his field: 

Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but 
when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, 
and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air 
come and lodge in the branches thereof. 43 

Here we have pictures of a kingdom which has 
begun its operations in the world — for all these 
parables contain the idea of x>resent existence — 
and is expected to go on actively till a certain 
objective has been reached. 

From this point of view Jesus unquestionably 
looked away to the distant future, just as the 
prophets of old had done. The present was to 
them a pledge of the long to-morrow, which in 
their thought often melted into eternity. It was 
so with Jesus. He saw in the r>resent the begin- 
nings of a kingdom stretching away into the dim 
future, consequently he used many expressions 
w T hich, if taken alone as though no others existed, 
would surely signify that the kingdom as he un- 
derstood it was a thing only to be realized at a 
far distant time. He taught his disciples to pray, 
"Thy kingdom come." Did he mean that it had 
not yet appeared? This cannot be, for we have 
seen how plainly he said it was at hand. But it 
did mean that the kingdom now going forward 
would come in greater access of power, perhaps 
on the day of Pentecost, as some have supposed, 
or in the final triumph of righteousness, as seems 
more natural. To correct the mistake of some 
who "thought that the kingdom of God should im- 

42 See page 179. 
43 Matthew 13. 31, 32. 

120 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PKEACHED IT 

mediately come/' because our Lord was at the 
time drawing near to Jerusalem, Jesus gave the 
parable of the nobleman who "went into a far 
country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to 
return," and who trusted his capital with his ser- 
vants, commanding them to trade therewith dur- 
ing his absence. "When he was returned, having 
received the kingdom," he made serious reckoning 
with those servants, rewarding the faithful and 
punishing the idle. 44 The same illustration is 
given under another form, and there it is said : 
"After a long time the lord of those servants 
cometh." 45 Are we to understand that Jesus 
meant by these words that the kingdom was not to 
appear till the lapse of a great period of time? 
He said to his disciples when he wished to dis- 
suade them from every kind of fret and worry: 

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 46 

Did this signify that the kingdom was in the fu- 
ture? Were not these men to have the kingdom 
some day in a broader and richer sense than now? 
Concerning certain other sayings of Jesus about 
the kingdom there can be no question, so far as 
relates to the time involved. It is sure that in 
some instances our Lord had before him the vision 
of judgment at the end of an individual life, or 
at the close of the age or the end of the world. 
Let us take a few passages in the order they follow 
in the Gospels : 

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven. ' 



44 Luke 19. 11-27. 
45 Matthew 25. 14-30. 
46 Luke 12. 32. 

121 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy 
name have cast out devils? and in thy name done 
many wonderful works? 

And then will I profess unto them, I never 
knew you: depart from me, ye that work in- 
iquity. 47 

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it 
is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of 
God with one eye, than having two eyes to be 
cast into hell fire. 48 

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and 
Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 
God, and you yourselves thrust out. 49 

In this connection may also be cited those pas- 
sages already quoted under the head of Christ's 
predictions of doom, such as the parable of the 
tares, the parable of the final judgment, the gath- 
ering of the elect ; also those sayings about eating 
and drinking, and reigning in the kingdom of 
God. 50 Still others will occur to the careful stu- 
dent which surely suggest that Jesus thought of 
the kingdom as coming at a time of crisis in the 
future, accompanied by calamity for some, but 
with triumph for others. Some are to "shine 
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," 
and to "inherit the kingdom prepared" for them 
"from the foundation of the world." Others are 
to be cast "into a furnace of fire," or to depart 
"into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
his angels." 51 

5. The kingdom is spiritual. One of the most 
interesting parallels between the old prophets 

47 Matthew 7. 21-23. 
48 Mark 9. 47. 

* 9 Luke 13. 28. Matthew 8. 11, 12. 
50 See page 114. 

61 Matthew 13. 42, 43; 25. 34, 41. 
122 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

and our Lord is the deeper spiritual meaning to 
which he and they referred from time to time in 
connection with the kingdom. We have seen how 
Jeremiah and Ezekiel especially laid great stress 
on personal godliness as a necessity for admission 
to the kingdom of God. They also taught that the 
kingdom was not thrust from the outside upon a 
world unprepared to receive it. On the contrary, 
they said it was given, as the book of Daniel de- 
clares, to "the saints of the most High." Its pos- 
session is a matter of individual character. The 
law of the kingdom is written on the hearts of 
those worthy to be its citizens. This is also one 
of the facts most insisted upon by our Lord in 
his teachings about the kingdom. It is implied 
in almost all that he says. Most of the sayings 
already quoted, particularly those about present 
and future judgment, and those which define the 
persons who enter the kingdom, include the idea 
of individual character. These need not be cited 
again. Let the reader go over them in 'his own 
study of the subject, and he will be convinced 
that, whether Jesus was thinking of the kingdom 
as present or future, the supreme consideration 
with him was the inner spiritual life of the people 
to whom the kingdom was offered. He said to 
Pilate when he was under sharp inquisition : 

My kingdom is not of this world: if my king- 
dom were of this world, then would my servants 
fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: 
'but now is my kingdom not from hence. 52 

It is held by some that this means nothing more 
than that his kingdom did not originate in this 
world, did not get its authority from this world. 
This much it surely does mean, but it also has a 



52 John 18. 36. 

. 123 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

much broader and deeper significance. It cer- 
tainly means that the sphere of the kingdom's 
operations is spiritual, rather than material. Its 
weapons are not carnal; its joys are not physical; 
its triumphs are not martial. " It is in the world, 
and it will be victorious over the world, but it is 
not of the world ; its affiliations are all heavenly. 

Jesus showed how unfriendly he was to the no- 
tion of a material kingdom when he steadfastly 
refused to be crowned king by the multitudes 
whom he fed, and who were wild with enthusiasm 
for the Man who gave by his miracles such good 
promise of being able to rid his generation of the 
hated Roman despotism. Furthermore, the great 
point of his worsting Satan on the mountain of 
temptation was his utter repudiation of all 
earthly aids to position and power among the peo- 
ple. Let him make bread of the stones, or throw 
himself without injury from the pinnacle of the 
temple, or seize the kingdoms of the world and 
make them his own, as he had the ability to do — 
these were the solicitations of the adversary. He 
flung them away with the most fervent indigna- 
tion. His was a kingdom of divine and heavenly 
energy. It seems a mockery in the face of such 
narratives of the attitude of Christ toward purely 
physical advantages to speak of him as striving 
to set up in the world literal thrones, attended 
with the pomp and circumstance of earthly courts. 

There are certain equivalents of the kingdom in 
the language of Jesus as reported by those who 
heard him which show how his thought about that 
kingdom was filled with spiritual conceptions. In 
one place it is recorded that he charged the 
scribes and Pharisees with shutting up the king- 
dom of heaven against men. In a parallel report 
of the same speech of condemnation he is de- 
124 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

scribed as saying that these miscreants had taken 
away the key of knowledge™ Here shutting the 
kingdom of heaven, which might be thought a for- 
mal act of keeping some one outside a society or 
institution here or hereafter, is shown to be the 
equivalent of denying some one the search for 
knowledge which is clearly a spiritual act. In 
one place Jesus is recorded as saying that it is 
better to enter into life maimed or halt, than to 
plunge into perdition sound and whole. In the 
parallel report of the same saying, Jesus is repre- 
sented as declaring it is better to enter into the 
kingdom of heaven?* Here life is made the equiva- 
lent of the kingdom of heaven. Nothing but a 
spiritual meaning for the kingdom in this place 
is allowable. 

When the rich young ruler asks, "Master, what 
good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal 
life?" Jesus says, after questioning him, "If thou 
wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give 
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
heaven : and come and follow me." When Jesus 
saw the reluctance of the rich man to follow his 
advice, he said to his disciples, "Verily I say unto 
you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." 55 Here eternal life, being 
perfect, treasure in heaven and the kingdom of 
heaven are all set forth as equivalents. The most 
conclusive of all the sayings of Jesus on this point 
is his response to Mcodemus : 

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man 
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God. 



53 Compare Matthew 23. 13 with Luke 11. 52, 
^Compare Matthew 18. 9 with Mark 9. 47. 
° 5 Matthew 19. 16-23. Mark 10. 17-25. Luke 18. 14-25. 
125 



THE EETUKK OF THE REDEEMER 

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man 
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot en- 
ter into the kingdom of God. 56 

Present or future, the kingdom belongs only to 
those who have the new birth which Ezekiel de- 
scribed and Jesus taught. It is definitely a spir- 
itual kingdom under whatever modes it may be 
manifested. 

6. The kingdom and the resurrection. We found 
that when the prophets of old had come to the 
realization of the supreme importance of the in- 
dividual life the doctrine of the resurrection 
dawned on the horizon of their thought. So in 
connection with our Lord's emphasis on the ne- 
cessity of personal righteousness, through the new 
birth by the Spirit of God, the truth of the resur- 
rection stands forth. As in the book of Daniel 
in the Old Testament, so in the Gospel of John 
in the New Testament, this sublime revelation 
came to its best expression. Other men heard 
Jesus speak this message, but John above all gave 
us the deep spiritual meaning of the Master's 
words. Let us read them over for our everlast- 
ing profit: 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth 
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, 
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into 
condemnation; but is passed from death unto 
life. 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is com- 
ing, and now is, when the dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall 
live. 

For as the Father hath life in himself; so 
hath he given to the Son to have life in him- 
self: 

And hath given him authority to execute judg- 
ment also, because he is the Son of man. 

56 John 3. 3, 5. 

126 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, 
in the which all that are in their graves shall 
hear his voice, 

And shall come forth; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damna- 
tion. 57 

In this majestic deliverance there are three truths 
of divine glory : First, that to Christ is committed 
judgment; second, that they who respond to his 
voice in this life shall have eternal life here and 
now; third, that in the end of things earthly the 
call of Jesus will wake the dead to a resurrection 
which shall issue in everlasting life or in everlast- 
ing condemnation. Thus the kingdom becomes, 
as, indeed, the ancient prophets had predicted, a 
kingdom on the earth, but to reach its perfection 
in a kingdom of eternity, a spiritual, divine, and 
heavenly kingdom. 

It is now possible to review with some degree 
of satisfaction the ideas about the kingdom to 
which Jesus gave utterance. When taken sepa- 
rately they sometimes seem vague, and when taken 
together they seem in some instances to be mu- 
tually contradictory; but they actually blend in a 
beautiful harmony. As we saw in a former chap- 
ter, the phrases "my kingdom/' "his kingdom/' 
"my Father's kingdom," "the kingdom of their 
Father," "the kingdom of heaven/' and "the king- 
dom of God," as used by our Lord, stand for the 
same thing; and that Jesus commonly spoke of his 
coming in connection with the coming of his king- 
dom. We have seen in-this chapter : 1. That Jesus 
regarded himself the central figure of the king- 
dom, stepping into the place to which John the 
Baptist designated him without the slightest res- 



57 John 5. 24-29. 

127 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ervation, and taking all the privileges and duties 
of the Messianic prince predicted in the old proph- 
ecies as his own by divine right. 2. That Jesus 
spoke of the kingdom in which he w r as the central 
figure as a finality, an everlasting kingdom, ex- 
tending into the world to come. 3. That Jesus 
mingled doom for the wicked and deliverance for 
the righteous in his descriptions of the kingdom, 
just as had been the habit of the prophets; and 
that in doing so he used material symbols to con- 
vey spiritual truth. 4. That Jesus frequently 
spoke of the kingdom as at hand, or in the imme- 
diate foreground, as had the ancient prophets. 

5. That, on the other hand, he just as often spoke 
of the kingdom as in the future, sometimes as in 
the distant ages, frequently in connection with 
judgment, either at death or at the end of the age. 

6. That Jesus always insisted that the kingdom 
was spiritual in its source, its power, its aims, and 
its citizenship, as also had the prophets, though 
not so clearly. 7. That Jesus brought forth the 
fact of the resurrection as an essential feature of 
the kingdom, with which judgment was associated, 
as had been the case w T ith the later prophets. 8. 
That in the view of Jesus, not less than in that 
of the ancient seers, the kingdom is to find its 
perfection in a heavenly life. 

The kingdom of heaven, therefore, according to 
the teachings of Jesus, is the kingdom that came 
from heaven and leads to heaven. It is not of this 
world, but it has come to regenerate this world. 
It is adjusted by necessity to the earthly sphere 
in which it acts. Therefore it develops with the 
human life of the w r orld. It moves along with 
the history of the race. It is both near and far. 
It has already begun, yet it is still to come in its 
perfection of power and final triumph. It is both 
128 



KINGDOM AS JESUS PREACHED IT 

existent and nonexistent. It is spiritually pres- 
ent, but its conquest of the material world is yet 
to be manifested. It is natural, for it comes from 
God. It is supernatural, for it transforms human 
life into divine life. The day approaches, though 
tardily as may appear to some, when it can be 
said, as John declares the angel announced in his 
apocalyptic vision : 

The kingdoms of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. 58 



B8 Revelation 11. 15. 



129 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE KINGDOM AS THE APOSTLES 
TAUGHT IT 

For the kingdom of God is not meat and 
drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in 
the Holy Ghost. — Romans 14. 17. 

A story in The Arabian Nights tells of a prin- 
cess who fell in love with a distant prince whom 
she had never seen but whose portrait she had 
studied. The picture of Jesus in the New Testa- 
ment has awakened the love of millions who are 
separated from his historical manifestation by 
hundreds of years. The unseen Christ holds multi- 
tudes in the thrall of an imperishable affection be- 
cause, through spiritual fellowship with him, they 
have found him to be u the chiefest among ten 
thousand" and the one "altogether lovely." 

Dean Swift wrote disconsolately, "I am clean 
forgotten, as a dead man out of mind and out of 
living hearts." Napoleon complained bitterly 
that he was forgotten by his soldiers within a 
short time after they had separated from their 
magnetic commander. It is the fate of the great- 
est men to leave few to mourn their departure. 
But for Jesus Christ millions would lay down 
their lives this day. It was of the Master thus 
adored that Peter wrote: 

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, 
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye re- 
joice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 

Receiving the end of your faith, even the sal- 
vation of your souls. 1 



*1 Peter 1. 8, 9. 

130 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

With the other apostles he taught that believers 
might have unbroken fellowship with the Lord 
who had withdrawn his personal presence from 
the earth. To be thus united with him by faith 
was to have true citizenship in the kingdom of 
his grace. It is interesting to note how the 
apostles reached this idea of the kingdom of God, 
for time and experience were required to put 
them in possession of it. 

What the apostles thought of the kingdom was 
fixed by several things: 1. The traditional ideas 
of the Jews sent down to them by their prophets, 
and with which Jesus and his disciples were fa- 
miliar. In the preaching and writings of the 
apostles we find traces of these views in the 
symbols used by them in describing the kingdom. 
2. The teachings of Jesus which in part aimed to 
correct the ideas they had inherited, and which 
were by him broadened and enriched. 3. The out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit which spiritualized 
their own aspirations and gave them a better sense 
of the purpose of the kingdom. This result is 
proved by the enthusiam the apostles showed for 
the salvation of mankind. 4. Their experience in 
evangelistic work, and in the building of church 
organizations under the guidance of the Holy 
Spirit. Their own efforts gave them a more prac- 
tical view of the relation of the kingdom to the 
whole world. 

1. The preaching of the kingdom. By his resur- 
rection from the dead Jesus had given his dis- 
ciples convincing proof that he was indeed the cen- 
tral figure of the kingdom. They now knew him 
to be the Messiah, in whom all prophecy about the 
kingdom was in process of being fulfilled. They 
believed that he was abundantly able to carry 
the kingdom to a perfect victory over the world. 
131 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

They at first imagined that he would do this at 
once. And it must be admitted that for a short 
time they continued to cherish the old Jewish 
idea of an outer and physical kingdom. 

This is not altogether strange, for Jesus had 
used language now and then, as we have seen, 
which lent probability to this supposition. For 
example, he said : 

I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father 
hath appointed unto me; 

That ye may eat and drink at my table in my 
kingdom, and sit on twelve thrones judging 
the twelve tribes of Israel. 2 

It is plain these were to be taken figuratively, if 
we regard the circumstances under which they 
were spoken, and the teaching of Jesus which im- 
mediately preceded them. He had just been re- 
buking his disciples for their anxiety to have 
places of honor. He told them that, as he was 
among them as a servant, so they would be 
truly great in proportion as they also be- 
came servants of others. Nevertheless, he 
assured them, they should have a kingdom in due 
time which would bring them actual glory. How 
strange it would be if, in the same breath with 
which he denounced lordliness, Jesus had really 
promised his disciples the kind of proud eminence 
they carnally craved. 

However, in spite of all their Lord's warnings, 
they kept for awhile their fleshly ideas of the 
kingdom. Three things Jesus had especially em- 
phasized : 1". The spiritual meaning of the 
kingdom. 2. The remoteness, greater or less, of 
the final triumph of the kingdom. 3. The neces- 
sity that the Holy Spirit should administer the 

2 Luke 22. 29, 30. 

132 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

interests of the kingdom until his own return. 
These things for a time they seemed to ignore. 
Though Jesus spent forty days with them after 
his resurrection, "speaking of the things pertain- 
ing to the kingdom of God/' 3 yet on the last day 
of their companionship with him, as if they 
thought an item needing attention had been over- 
looked, they asked him, "Lord, wilt thou at this 
time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" 4 They 
had been charged to tarry at Jerusalem till they 
had received the promised outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit, in order that power might be given for 
their great mission. 5 Still the old question leaped 
to their lips, revealing the age-long dream of a 
physical kingdom that should surpass the splen- 
dor of Solomon's reign. 

Thereupon Jesus gave them three bits of in- 
struction: 1. About the time of the kingdom's 
triumph, which was the foremost quest of their 
minds — "It is not for you to know the times or the 
seasons, w r hich the Father hath put in his own 
power. 6 That is an excellent thing for all the 
followers of Jesus to remember now. 2. About 
the nature of the kingdom of which they were 
already the human agents, and the power by 
which they were to push the claims of the king- 
dom — "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy 
Ghost is come upon you." 3. About the work of 
the kingdom which they were to undertake — "Ye 
shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, 
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
uttermost part of the earth." 7 

After these words Jesus was taken up from his 
disciples into heaven, "and a cloud received him 

3 Acts 1. 3. c Acts 1. 7. 

4 Acts 1. 6. Acts 1. 8. 

°Luke 24. 49. 

133 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

out of their sight." 8 For ten days they and many 
others — a hundred and twenty are mentioned — 
remained together in prayer, meditation and con- 
versation, awaiting the fulfillment of the promise 
which their Lord had made at his final interview 
with them. 9 What thoughts passed through their 
minds, what words they spoke to one another con- 
cerning the kingdom, what decisions they reached 
beyond the resolution to fill up the vacancy in 
the apostolic company caused by the defection of 
Judas Iscariot, we do not know. But this we do 
know, that from the day of Pentecost, with its 
marvels and portents from heaven, their ideas of 
the kingdom lost nearly every trace of carnal ex- 
pectation. If the story of that day were rubbed 
out of all knowledge, and we should turn abruptly 
from the record of the apostles' sentiments about 
the kingdom before that event to the narrative of 
their words and deeds after it had occurred, we 
should be utterly at loss to account for the change 
in their whole mood. * 

In his sermon on that extraordinary day, 
largely made up of quotations from the Old Testa- 
ment, Peter first shows that the wonders which 
amaze the large and diversified audience are in 
fulfillment of Joel's prophecy of "the last days." 10 
He then drives home the lesson that this outpour- 
ing is precisely what Jesus had promised them, 
and that it is actually he who had wrought the 
astonishing miracle of which they are witnesses. 
While making this interpretation Peter recalls the 
prophecy that David's throne was to be estab- 
lished forever, and shows that, while this predic- 
tion could not be literally fulfilled in the case of 

*Acts l. 9. 
9 Acts 1. 12-14. 

10 Acts 2. 16-21. Joel 2. 28-32. 
134 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

David who was dead and buried and had not 
arisen again, it was fulfilled to the letter in Jesus, 
who was the son of David, and who rose again 
from the tomb wherein he had been laid, and who 
was in actual possession of an everlasting king- 
dom. Peter quotes the sixteenth psalm as a defi- 
nite prediction of Christ's resurrection made by 
David himself, and says: 

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that 
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the 
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he 
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; • 

He seeing this before spake of the resurrec- 
tion of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, 
neither his flesh did see corruption. 

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we 
all are witnesses. 11 

Peter then quotes the one hundred and tenth 
psalm to confirm the declaration that Jesus was 
"by the right hand of God exalted," and con- 
cludes : 

Therefore let all the house of Israel know 
assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, 
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 12 

The response of the crowd who "were pricked in 
their heart" was the earnest cry, "Men and breth- 
ren, what shall we do?" Peter's answer shows 
the new feeling about the kingdom. There is not 
the slightest reference to a mighty monarch who 
demands subjection to a royal scepter. The re- 
sponse is : 

Repent, and be baptized every one of you in 
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Ghost. 13 



"Acts 2. 30. 
12 Acts 2. 36. 
13 Acts 2. 38. 

135 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Such was the declared condition of entrance into 
the kingdom, and, after an exhortation to save 
themselves from their crooked generation, three 
thousand souls came into the kingdom with glad- 
ness, but without any false notions of its alleged 
fleshly character. They saw Christ as Saviour, 
which is his most royal aspect. They knew him as 
David's son, but they also knew that David's 
kingdom had been spiritually realized in Christ's 
kingdom. 

A few days later, after healing the lame man at 
the Gate Beautiful of the temple, Peter spoke 
again in the same strain, though w r ith even deeper 
emphasis : 

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out, when the times 
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the 
Lord: 

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before 
was preached unto you: 

Whom the heaven must receive until the times 
of restitution of all things, which God hath 
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets 
since the world began. 14 

Here also there are no terms requiring the sub- 
mission of men to a royal authority. Jesus is re- 
ferred to as a prophet and a Saviour. In Peter's 
speech "the Prince of life" is a title for Jesus, 15 
but this does not suggest in the least the idea of a 
material kingdom. 

The conversion of Paul soon follows. In his 
great address at Antioch we have evidence again 
of the new meaning attached to the kingdom in 
the minds of Christ's followers, under the illu- 
mination of the Holy Spirit, and in consequence of 



14 Acts 3. 19-21 
15 Acts 3. 15. 

136 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

their own experience in the service of their Lord. 
Paul reviews the history of ancient Israel, re- 
hearses the promise of an everlasting kingdom 
made to David, 16 and says, '"Of this man's seed 
hath God according to his promise raised unto 
Israel a Saviour, Jesus." That is, the Son of 
David is not an earthly but a heavenly King, and 
his w^ork is not to set up a material throne, but 
to save the people from their sins. Paul then 
quotes the second psalm — "Thou art my Son ; this 
day have I begotten thee," — and proceeds to make 
the very application of the sixteenth psalm which 
Peter had previously made. David slept in the 
tomb, but Christ arose. The son of David is the 
Son of God. His kingdom is an heavenly king- 
dom. "Be it known unto you therefore, men and 
brethren, that through this man is preached unto 
you the forgiveness of sins." 17 The kingdom is 
kingly because the king saves. The kingdom is 
God's kingdom because it brings men to God. The 
whole speech is full of this idea. 

At the council of Jerusalem another witness to 
the same effect is recorded. James gives his vote 
for a free gospel to all men through a speech of 
great impressiveness, in which he quotes an an- 
cient prophet as showing that, while the promise 
made to David could not be literally fulfilled in 
his person, it was to be accomplished through the 
preaching of Christ and the extension of his king- 
dom. Amos had written : 

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of 
David that is fallen, and close up the breaches 
thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will 
build it as in the days of old: 

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, 



16 2 Samuel 7. 10-17. 
17 Acts 13. 6-41. 

137 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

and of all the heathen, which are called by my 
name, saith the Lord that doeth this. 18 

This prophecy James applies to Peter's testimony 
that the Gentiles are ready for the gospel. It is 
to be expected in view of what the prophet has 
written. But to w T hat are the Gentiles to be ad- 
mitted? An earthly kingdom of David's son? By 
no means. It is to be the kingdom of grace, the 
spiritual commonwealth of Jesus. 

In the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans 
Paul gives this double authentication to Jesus: 
he "w T as made of the seed of David according to 
the flesh/' and he was "declared to be the Son of 
God w r ith power according to the spirit of holi- 
ness." 19 That puts the truth most concisely. 
Thus through the Acts of the Apostles, our only 
record of the primitive church, and through the 
epistles as we shall soon examine them, the idea of 
an earthly kingdom loses itself in the loftier con- 
ception of a spiritual sovereignty. It may be re- 
marked in passing that the whole purpose of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews is to show how thoroughly 
the ideas of the old dispensation are spiritualized 
in the new. 

2. The judgments of the kingdom. As in the 
prophecies of old time and in the ministry of 
Jesus, so in the teachings of the apostles, doom 
and deliverance, retribution and reward, judg- 
ment and redemption are associated with the com- 
ing and triumph of the kingdom. These ideas 
were expressed in the speeches we have just re- 
viewed, and they are found in many other pas- 
sages. For example, in his address to Cornelius, 
Peter says of Christ : 



18 Amos 9. 11, 12. Acts 15. 16-18 
19 Romans 1. 3, 4, 

138 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

He commanded us to preach unto the people, 
and to testify that it is he which was ordained 
of God to be the Judge of the quick and dead. 20 

On Mars' hill Paul tells the fickle Athenians : 

The times of this ignorance God winked at; 
but now commandeth all men everywhere to 
repent-: 

Because he hath appointed a day, in which he 
will judge the world in righteousness by that 
man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath 
given assurance unto all men, in that he hath 
raised him from the dead. 21 

So Paul writes to the Christians at Home that 
the conscience of the heathen will either accuse 
or excuse them, 

In the day when God shall judge the secrets 
of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 22 

In the same epistle he also says : 

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why 
dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we 
shall all stand before the judgment seat of 
Christ. 23 

The following passages from the hand of Paul 
teach the same truth : 

Therefore judge nothing before the time, un- 
til the Lord come, who both will bring to light 
the hidden things of darkness, and will make 
manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then 
shall every man have praise of God. 24 

I charge thee therefore before God, and the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick 
and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. 25 

It is appointed unto men once to die, but after 
this the judgment. 26 



20 Acts 10. 42. 24 1 Corinthians 4. 5. 

21 Acts 17. 30, 31. 25 2 Timothy 4. 1. 

-Romans 2. 16. 26 Hebrews 9. 27. 
23 Romans 14. 10. 

139 



THE RETUEN OF THE REDEEMER 

In these and similar passages judgment looks for- 
ward to the future and especially to the end of 
life, but also to the time of our Lord's coming 
again. But deliverance and salvation are in the 
same way associated with the second advent of 
Christ. Paul says : 

I am now ready to be offered, and the time of 
my departure is at hand. 

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith: 

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me 
only, but unto all them also that love his ap- 
pearing. 27 

John writes: 

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it 
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we 
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

And every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 28 

There is, of course, in these passages no word of a 
corporate kingdom. Everything refers to the 
kingdom of personal righteousness in Jesus 
Christ. 

3. The spirituality of the kingdom. This has al- 
ready had attention in connection with the 
speeches and sermons of the apostle as recorded in 
the Acts. We may now turn to the w r riters of the 
epistles. Here we shall find nothing of the con- 
ception that the kingdom is, or ever will be, one of 
physical form or quality or of material splendor. 
On the contrary, the sharpest emphasis is laid 
on the ethical, moral, and spiritual significance of 
the kingdom. Take these examples: 



27 2 Timothy 4. 6-8. 
•1 John 3. 2, 3. 



140 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; 
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost. 20 

The kingdom of God is not in word, but in 

power. 30 

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of 
God. 31 

The whole trend of Paul's teaching is away from 
material expressions of religion and strongly in 
the direction of inner spiritual experience. We 
may take the following as characteristic of his 
whole temper: 

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on 
the right hand of God. 

Set your affection on things above, not on 
things on the earth. 

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with . 
Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, 
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with 
him in glory. 32 

Entrance into the kingdom is a work of divine 
grace, even as Jesus taught. It is an act of 
God's mercy, and it brings the peace of God to the 
soul: 

Who hath delivered us from the power of 
darkness, and hath translated us into the king- 
dom of his dear Son. 33 

James is equally clear about the spiritual, the 
inner and ethical nature of the kingdom: 

Hath not God chosen the poor of this world 
rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which 
he hath promised to them that love him? 34 

Here it is faith and love that mark the kingdom 
and entitle men to its fellowship. Paul men- 

29 Romans 14. 17. 32 Colossians 3. 1-4. 

30 1 Corinthians 4. 20. 33 Colossians 1. 13. 

31 1 Corinthians 15. 50 34 James 2. 5. 

141 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

tions faith and patience as necessary in order 
to secure the kingdom, and these will involve suf- 
fering to prove their reality : 

We are bound to thank God always for you, 
brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith 
groweth. ... 

So that we ourselves glory in you in the 
churches of God for your patience and faith in 
all your persecutions and tribulations that ye 
endure: 

Which is a manifest token of the righteous 
judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy 
of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer. 35 

In various cities it is said that Paul and Barna- 
bas w r ere 

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and ex- 
horting them to continue in the faith, and that 
we must through much tribulation enter into the 
kingdom of God. 36 

4. The present possession of the kingdom. The 
kind of kingdom described in the passages which 
bear on its spirituality is not only a kingdom at 
hand, but a kingdom which may be held as a per- 
sonal experience. It was so understood by the 
apostles. They said that God had already trans- 
lated" them "into the kingdom," having delivered 
them "from the power of darkness." Even John 
in his Apocalypse, the greatest of all the books 
on the second advent, could write: 

I John, who also am your brother and com- 
panion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and 
patience of Jesus Christ. 37 

To him the kingdom was not only "at hand," but 
also "within." This was the conviction too of 
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews : 

35 2 Thessalonians 1. 3-5. 
S6 Acts 14. 22. 
87 Revelation 1. 9. 

142 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the 
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to an innumerable company of angels, 

To the general assembly and church of the 
first born, which are written in heaven, and to 
God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just 
men made perfect, 

And to Jesus the mediator of the new cove- 
nant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that 
speaketh better things than that of Abel. 38 

Every passage in the New Testament which por- 
trays the kingdom as moral, ethical, or spiritual 
in its operations carries also the declaration or 
implication that the kingdom is something which 
men may have at once and forever. Those who 
claim that the kingdom is always regarded as in 
the future in the words of Jesus and his apostles 
are still in Jewish bondage to tradition. They 
say that the kingdom did come near. It was 
actually at hand when John the Baptist and Jesus 
were proclaiming it. But the Jews rejected it, and 
therefore the kingdom passed by. They quote in 
proof: "He came unto his own, and his own re- 
ceived him not." They fail to finish the text: 
"But as many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to them 
that believe on his name." 39 There were some 
that received Christ and his kingdom at once. The 
apostles as a whole did this, though one of them 
basely foreswore his title. Groups of people in 
every place Jesus entered received him. After 
Pentecost thousands received him and his king- 
dom. In a deep spiritual sense, multitudes ex- 
perienced in their lives the fulfillment of the 
Master's promise to his disciples: "Fear not, lit- 



3s Hebrews 12. 22-24. 
39 John 1. 11, 12. 

143 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

tie flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the kingdom." 40 

5. The future triumph of the kingdom. The cli- 
max of such a kingdom cannot be reached in a 
world disordered by sin. Earthly conditions are 
not friendly to a spiritual kingdom. Perfection 
can be attained only in a perfect world. There- 
fore the apostles looked forward to the final bless- 
edness of the time when the kingdom shall have 
been brought to its completion in a renewed earth 
or in the heavenly world. Hence Paul says : 

The Lord shall deliver me from every evil 
work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly- 
kingdom. 41 

Peter writes in the same way about the future 
kingdom : 

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence 
to make your calling and election sure: for if 
ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto 
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 42 

This expectation is not to be disappointed, either 
in this world or the next. It will have joyous 
actualization for the saints of the old time, not 
less than for those of the new covenant. Look- 
ing "for a city which hath foundations, whose 
builder and maker is God," they will find the ob- 
ject of their quest. 

For they that say such things declare plainly 
that they seek a country. 

And truly, if they had been mindful of that 
country from whence they came out, they might 
have had opportunity to have returned. 



40 Luke 12. 32. 

41 2 Timothy 4. 18. 

42 2 Peter 1. 10, 11. 

144 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

But now they desire a better country, that is, 
an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to 
be called their God: for he hath prepared for 
them a city. 43 

Paul thinks of the kingdom as both near and far ? 
and in one of his shorter epistles brings the two 
ideas together in his view of human life and its 
responsibilities : 

I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire 
to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far 
better : 

Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more 
needful for you. 44 

For our conversation is in heaven; from 
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. 45 

The kingdom is here in present possession — there- 
fore one can quietly perform duty till relieved ; 
the kingdom is also there in heaven — therefore 
Christ will bring it in due time. In any ease our 
citizenship is secure. 

6. The resurrection and the kingdom. It is 
through the final resurrection unto life that the 
uttermost triumph of the kingdom is to be real- 
ized. Thus Paul argues in his wonderful discus- 
sion of the resurrection, saying that the rising 
from the dead will follow a certain sequence, and 
have a definite aim : 

But every man in his own order: Christ the 
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at 
his coming. 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have de- 
livered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; 
when he shall have put down all rule and all 
authority and power. 



43 Hebrews 11. 10, 14-16. 
44 Philippians 1. 23, 24. 
45 Philippians 3. 20. 

145 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

For lie must reign, till he hath put all enemies 
under his feet. The last enemy that shall be 
destroyed is death. 46 

Several things are noteworthy in this fine utter- 
ance : 1. That the final resurrection is at Christ's 
second advent. 2. That this event will mark the 
end of the world or of the age. 3. That at that 
time Christ will deliver up the kingdom to his 
Father. 4. That at the same time death, the last 
enemy, will be destroyed. 5. That Christ will have 
been reigning while he was putting his enemies 
under his feet ; that is, the kingdom will have been 
active through that period of history we call the 
Christian era. 6. That when all other rule, 
authority, and power have been abolished Christ's 
kingdom will be triumphant. 

Thus the kingdom obtains its victory on the 
earth. It is here moving from one triumph to an- 
other. It is in heaven also waiting the hour of 
the descent to the final overthrow of evil and the 
final enthronement of the good. Of Christ it is 
said : 

After he had offered one sacrifice for sins for- 
ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 

Prom henceforth expecting till his enemies be 
made his footstool. 47 

John heard great voices in heaven saying: 

The kingdoms of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and 
he shall reign forever and ever. 48 

Then shall be brought to pass the glorious predic- 
tion of Paul : 

That at the name of Jesus every knee should 



46 1 Corinthians 15. 23-26. 
47 Hebrews 10. 12, 13. 
4S Revelation 11. 15. 

146 



KINGDOM AS APOSTLES TAUGHT IT 

bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth; 

And that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father. 49 

These examples of what the apostles understood 
by the kingdom may now be combined with what 
in previous chapters were shown to be the teach- 
ings of the prophets and Christ, with the follow- 
ing results : 

1. The kingdom began its Christian phase with 
the public ministry of Jesus among men. It had 
existed in its Jewish j>hase from the day Abraham 
came out of Ur of the Chaldees to obey the voice 
of Jehovah. It had existed before that in the eter- 
nal world of spirits, angels and archangels and 
all the company of heaven being its citizens. Jesus 
came to earth to make it known in fuller detail to 
the children of men, and to show them how it 
must operate to secure its everlasting triumph. 

2. That kingdom will surely though slowly, un- 
der the force of divine grace and through the guid- 
ance of the Holy Spirit, overcome the world. 
Whatever thrones and dominions, powers and gov- 
ernments may endure as conveniences in a re- 
deemed civilization will be under the mastery of 
Jesus, who will be Lord of all. The institutions 
of society and of government will be directed by 
the spirit of devotion to the ideals Jesus has 
taught. This will not mean a world swept of all 
evil, but a world in which evil will be held in 
subjection. 

3. In his own time Jesus the Christ will return 
to the world to claim it utterly for himself. He 
will call the dead out of their tombs, that they 
may receive their recompense of reward and retri- 

-Philippians 2. 10, 11. 

147 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

bution. He will judge the world in righteous- 
ness. He will cast out all that offends or can 
cause sorrow. He will abolish death. Peace will 
be universal. 

4. This will be the climax of history, the goal 
toward which all the centuries have been mov- 
ing. The kingdom thus victoriously established 
will be delivered up to God ; that is, at the second 
coming of Christ the sovereignty of God on the 
earth will be everywhere acknowledged. It will 
be the end of the age. It will be the beginning 
of a new order. The city of God will have come 
down to dwell with men. 

5. Such a new world can do no other than merge 
into the heavenly state. That is what the old 
prophets foresaw and proclaimed. That is what 
Jesus affirmed in many ways. That is what the 
dreamer of the Apocalypse painted with his tran- 
scendent symbolism. In that the apostles are 
agreed. 

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which 
God hath prepared for them that love him. 50 



°1 Corinthians 2. 9. 



148 



CHAPTER IX 
THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

And hath put all thicgs under his feet, and 
gave him to be the head over all things to the 
church, 

Which is his body, the fulness of him that 
filleth all in alL—Ephesians 1. 22, 23. 

In the old city of Cologne on the banks of the 
Rhine the traveler observes that tlie magnificent 
cathedral, which was many years in building and 
is one of the glories of the world, dominates the 
whole place. It towers above all the other struc- 
tures of the ancient town. Wherever the pilgrim 
wanders he is conscious that the great Gothic tem- 
ple is looming above him. If this w T ere a perfect 
type of the relation of religion to society, all 
Christians might well rejoice. But the dominance 
of the cathedral does illustrate the position of the 
church with respect to the work of the kingdom 
of God on earth. That kingdom being spiritual, 
has no outer forms of its own. It is a kingdom ex- 
isting in the lives of men and it shows itself only 
in their character and conduct. There is an insti- 
tution belonging to the kingdom, however, which 
does take on a visible shape. That is the church,, 
within which there are many churches, and which 
in its entirety is the sum of all the forces at work 
in organized Christianity. 

• For this institution Jesus had great affection. 
He called it "my church. " He said, "I will build" 
it. He declared that its foundation was Peter's 
confession of "the Christ, the Son of the living 
149 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

God." 1 It is his church because it came from 
him, because he speaks to the world through it, 
because it is the embodiment of his spirit, and be- 
cause he died for it. As Paul says, "Christ . . . 
loved the church, and gave himself for it." 2 Any- 
thing so precious to our Lord must have the closest 
relationship to his kingdom. Yet the church 
must not be confounded with the kingdom. Some 
persons make them identical, saying that the 
church on earth and in heaven is the equivalent of 
the kingdom in this world and in the world to 
come. This cannot be. 

1. The kingdom distinguished from the church. A 
little reflection will show that the church and the 
kingdom are not one, for the following among 
other reasons: In the first place, the church 'is 
too loose a designation for the kingdom. It means 
in ordinary usage organized Christianity. It is an 
institution founded on confession of Christ as the 
Son of God. But it is composed of persons whose 
confession may or may not be genuine. We know 
that not all who are within the pale of organized 
Christianity are actually united to Christ by a 
living faith. Their lives are not "hid with Christ 
in God." They do not show the fruits of a holy 
character. We make a distinction therefore be- 
tween nominal Christians, who have the form of 
godliness but deny the power thereof, and genuine 
Christians whose names are written in the Lamb's 
book of life. The visible church does not coincide 
with the invisible church. There are some in the 
church who are not in the kingdom. 

On the other hand, the church is too narrow a des- 
ignation for the kingdom. The latter must include 
the saints of all ages. ,Our Lord said that Abra- 

x Matthew 16. 18. 
2 Ephesians 5. 25. 

150 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

ham, Isaac, and Jacob and many others belonged 
to the kingdom. He said that little children were 
possessors of the kingdom. He talked about "dis- 
ciples of the kingdom/' "sons of the kingdom," 
when he was making no mention of the church. 
Peter found that men could be in the kingdom who 
had no connection with the church. When he saw 
the faith and works of Cornelius he said : 

Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter 
of persons: but in every nation he that feareth 
him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted 
with him. 3 

Such a man could not be outside the kingdom of 
the God who accepted him. So Peter preached 
awhile to him, then baptized him and received him 
into the church. There are numerous cases of this 
sort in all parts of the world. We have them in 
our own places of residence. Publicans and har- 
lots, according to Jesus, were going into the king- 
dom in his day. They had no place in the church 
till later. Persons of this sort who are pressing 
into the kingdom sometimes have difficulty now 
in getting into the church, though Christ is offer- 
ing them the benefits of the kingdom. That is 
because the church has an element of impurity in 
it. Even the true church is narrower than the 
kingdom. It could not properly include holy men 
of heathen nations, in the strict sense of its mean- 
ing as organized Christianity. But who dare 
say that such saints are not in the kingdom? 

2. The kingdom active in the church. While the 
church and the kingdom are not identical, their 
relation to one another is very close, as the words 
of Jesus clearly sho\y in all that he says about the 
church. Our Lord's great declaration concerning 

3 Acts 10. 34, 35. 

151 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

the church was made at the time when he drew 
from Peter the noble expression of faith in the 
Messiahship of Jesus, to which we have referred. 
Christ then said to him: 

Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father which is in heaven. 

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, 
and upon this rock I will build my church: and 
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

And I will give unto thee the keys of the king- 
dom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind 
on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatso- 
ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed 
in heaven. 4 

It should be noted that in this passage Jesus links 
the giving of the keys of the kingdom to Peter 
with the founding of the church on the confession 
of Peter. This would seem to prove that the con- 
nection between the kingdom and the church is 
very close and vital. We get an added emphasis 
to this conviction and a better idea of what is 
meant by the binding and loosing from another 
passage. Jesus has been telling his disciples that 
in case of trouble with an erring brother, the 
man shall first of all be reprimanded in private, 
and then in the presence of witnesses, and he 
continues : 

If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto 
the church: but if he neglect to hear the 
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man 
and a publican. 

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall 
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and 
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven. 5 

The last resort is to the church. The final author- 
Matthew 16. 17-19. 
5 Matthew 18. 17, 18. 

152 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

ity for approval or disapproval is in the assembly, 
the power to bind or loose is exercised after the 
church has finished its trial. It is the agreement 
of those who are in fellowship with Christ which 
determines the case. This means a very close re- 
lationship between the church and the kingdom. 
It would be hard to show that a man was any 
longer in the kingdom who had been cast out of the 
church under such circumstances. The church 
was in apostolic days the immediate agency of the 
kingdom. It was born on the day of Pentecost. 
After the sermon of Peter and the turning of 
three thousand souls to the Christian faith, the 
organization of the new converts under the lead- 
ership of the apostles was indispensable. At once 
the Christian community began to show wonder- 
ful zeal and fellowship in the gospel. Their in- 
fluence upon the world about them w r as remark- 
able. They drew together by an irresistible 
attraction. The kingdom had come upon them, 
and they praised God and had "favor with all 
the people." The kingdom had visualized itself 
in the church. 

And the Lord added to the church daily such 
as should be saved. 6 

3. The kingdom victorious through the church. 
Though the church and the kingdom must be dis- 
tinguished from one another, the church is within 
the kingdom, as a central circle within one of 
wider circumference. It is the visible core of the 
kingdom. It is the organized propaganda of the 
kingdom. It is the body formed to push the in- 
terests of the kingdom. It is the sun which sends 
its rays of light over the earth to make the king- 
dom evident. It is the agency by which the king- 
lets 2. 47. 

153 



THE RETUKN OF THE EEDEEMER 

dom comes out of hazy theory into active reality. 
It is the only institution which is wholly and for 
all time dedicated to the task of setting forth the 
kingdom before men. It is the supreme recruiting 
agency for the kingdom. It is adding every day 
to the human citizenship of the kingdom. It will 
go on till it has brought into the kingdom all 
who can be induced to enter the kingdom. It 
will thus fill the whole earth with its power and 
triumphs. 

Just now the church is divided ; that is, organ- 
ized Christianity has many arms. Its lines of 
separation are, however, more seeming than ac- 
tual. Furthermore, the genuine church is not 
divided in spirit, though quite differing in form. 
Even in externals the divisions of the church are 
gradually falling away. We are seeing in our 
time the merging of these divisions. We are con- 
vinced that the time is approaching when our 
Lord's prayer will be fulfilled : "that they may be 
one, as we are." 7 

Lord Macaulay has given a very striking pic- 
ture of the allied forces of the Duke of Marl- 
borough and the Prince Eugene on the eve of the 
battle of Blenheim in 1704, when as he says : "Two 
great captains equal in authority, united by close 
private and public ties, but of different creeds, 
prepared for a battle, on the event of which were 
staked the liberties of Europe. Marlborough had 
passed a part of the night in prayer, and before 
daybreak received the sacrament according to 
the rites of the Church of England. He then 
hastened to join Eugene, who had probably just 
confessed himself to a popish priest. The gen- 
erals consulted together, formed their plan in 



7 John 17. 11. 

154 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

concert, and repaired each to his own post. Marl- 
borough gave orders for public prayers. The Eng- 
lish chaplains read the service at the head of the 
English regiments. The Calvinistic chaplains of 
the Dutch army, with heads on which hand of 
bishop had never been laid, poured forth their sup- 
plications in front of their countrymen. In the 
meantime the Danes might listen to their Lu- 
theran ministers, and Capuchins might encourage 
the Austrian squadrons, and pray to the Virgin 
for a blessing on the arms of the Holy Eoman 
Empire." Then these rugged men of war, whose 
opinions were as various as the colors of the rain- 
bow, but whose minds were bent on a single pur- 
pose, went boldly into the conflict, and before 
nightfall had achieved a victory which changed 
the political complexion of Europe. 

Some day the separate and scattered hosts of 
our Lord will come together in hearty alliance. 
They will ignore the differences of opinion which 
have been the occasion of much tiresome contro- 
versy. They will sink their personal preferences 
for the sake of the one object for which Christ 
died. In union they will triumph. 

When that day comes the kingdom and the 
church will be practically the same, so far as rela- 
tions in this world are concerned. Surely when 
all the persons who can be reached by the gospel 
have been saved, and all these are united in spirit 
and action, there can be no essential difference 
between the church and the kingdom on earth. 

That means that in the end the church will 
have disappeared within the kingdom. Jesus said 
that the gates of hell should not prevail against 
his church, and therefore we know it will outlast 
death itself in its true being, but this does not 
mean that in its outer form as an organization 
155 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

it will endure forever. The kingdom, on the other 
hand, is an everlasting kingdom. The church is 
an institution for use in time; it will not be re- 
quired in eternity. Christianity itself is not an 
everlasting religion. It is a means to an end. 
John plainly says : 

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lor* 
God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple 

of it. 8 

As a system of faith and service the Christian re- 
ligion is to pass. What, then, shall be said of 
those who contend that when our Lord returns a 
kind of renewed Jewish religion will be set up? 
Judaism passed as a world-faith when Christ 
came to fulfill the law and the prophets. There is 
no possibility of its restoration in the kingdom to 
which all kingdoms are to bow in submission. 
The same is true of Christianity. The Christ only 
shall endure, but he shall be all and in all. 

This teaching about the church and the king- 
dom is not acceptable to some who have a theory 
about Christ's second coming which cannot be 
squared with it. We have referred to the writer 
who affirms that the church prepares for the king- 
dom of heaven which will not be set up till the 
second advent of our Lord, and that the kingdom 
of heaven which is known as the millennium will 
prepare for the kingdom of God which is eternal. 9 
Many persons are deluded into believing this 
scheme because it is a scheme. It gives them a 
fixed order of things. They do not need to think ; 
they can just accept this plan as it is. It is a lad- 
der of three rounds, easy to climb. The trouble with 
it is that it is manufactured out of a preconceived 

s Revelation 21. 22. 
9 See pages 66, 67. 

156 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

notion of how Christ is going to do this work of 
winning a victory, and not out of a consistent 
study of the New Testament. If the reader has 
followed the foregoing pages of our discussion of 
the kingdom with attention, he knows that this 
writer's theory is not sound. "The kingdom of 
heaven" is ' not preparing for "the kingdom of 
God," because they are one and the same thing; 
and "the kingdom of heaven" is not waiting for 
the church to get through with its preparation, 
for "the kingdom of heaven" has been in operation 
for long ages, though it will not be finally tri- 
umphant till some time in the future, near or 
far no man can tell. 

4. The church as the body of Christ. It is in con- 
nection with the program outlined above that the 
finishing of the membership of the church is de- 
scribed as the completing of the body of Christ. 
A distinction is drawn between the church as a 
whole and the elect who are a comparatively small 
company within organized Christianity, and who 
constitute the real church. It is this inner church 
which is called the body of Christ. That body 
cannot be complete till every elect soul has been 
gathered to it. The true church will go on with 
its work till this body is perfected. Then Christ 
will return to take" it. This may occur at any mo- 
ment, for at any moment the last saint may be 
numbered with the elect. This we have called a 
scheme, and it is purely an invention. It cannot 
be found in the Bible. It is based, of course, on 
Paul's favorite and beautiful metaphor of the 
church as the body of Christ. But it goes much 
farther than Paul dreamed of going with the fig- 
ure, as we shall see by examining together the 
passages in which he uses the symbolism. Here 
they are: 

157 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 



We, being many, are one body in Christ, and 
every one members one of another. 10 

We being many are one bread, and one body: 

for we are all partakers of that one bread. 11 

For as the body is one, and hath many mem- 
bers, and all the members of that one body, be- 
ing many, are one body: so also is Christ. 

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
body. 12 

[He] hath put all things under his feet, and 
gave him to be head over all things to the 
church, 

Which is his body, the fulness of him that 
filleth all in all. 13 

He gave some, apostles, . . . for the edify- 
ing of the body of Christ. 14 

And he is the head of the body, the church: 
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the 
dead. 15 

Let no man beguile you of your reward. . . . 
not holding the Head, from which all the body 
by joints and bands having nourishment minis- 
tered, and knit together, increaseth with the in- 
crease of God. 16 

The peace of God rule in your hearts, to the 
which also ye are called in one body. 17 

We have reserved the main passage to the last 
because it includes all involved in the other pas- 
sages, and carries the simile to its utmost use by 
the apostle. 

For the husband is the head of the wife, even 
as Christ is the head of the church: and he is 
the Saviour of the body. 

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, 



^'Romans 12. 5. 14 Ephesians 4. 11, 12. 

"1 Corinthians 10. 17, "Colossians 1. 18. 

12 1 Corinthians 12. 12, 13. 16 Colossians 2, 18, 19. 
l3 Ephesians 1. 22, 23. 17 Colossians 3. 15. 

158 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

so let the wives be to their own husbands in 
every thing. 

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 
also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the 
washing of water by the word, 

That he might present it to himself a glorious 
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such 
thing; but thaWt should be holy and without 
blemish. 

So ought men to love their wives as their own 
bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but 
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord 
the church: 

For we are members of his body . . . This 
is a great mystery: but I speak concerning 
Christ and the church. 13 

Here the metaphor is most exquisitely worked out, 
but it needs to be noted that the aim is not to 
show that the church is the body of Christ (that 
is taken for granted as a fact already fixed in the 
mind of the reader), but to show that the relation 
of a man and his wife is as close, tender, and mys- 
terious as the relation of Christ and his church. 
Observe the parallels as they are drawn out : 

The husband is the head of the wife. 

Christ is the head of the church. 

Wives should be subject to their husbands. 

The church is subject to Christ. 

Husbands should love their wives. 

Christ loved the church. 

The husband nourishes and cherishes his 
wife as his flesh. 

Christ nourishes and cherishes the church as 
his body. 

Now it is Christ and his church which is used to 
enforce the sacredness of marriage, not the sacred- 
ness of marriage which is used to enforce the fact 



ls Ephesians 5. 23-32. 

159 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

that the church is the body of Christ. Indeed, 
if Paul had pressed the figure to its farthest pos- 
sible parallel, he would have been compelled to 
say that Christ and his church are one. That 
would have been untrue. Paul evidently felt this 
danger. He began to follow his symbol out by 
saying : 

For this cause shall a man leave his father 
and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, 
and they two shall be one flesh. 19 

Then he stopped short, and said : "This is a great 
mystery : but I speak concerning Christ and the 
church." It was too much to say that Christ and 
his church are one, though he had said that a hus- 
band and wife are one flesh. We could wish some 
writers in our day had shown equal reserve. To 
talk of Christ's body being made complete, so that 
he can come and take that body, and go away with 
it, is pressing a figure beyond propriety. More- 
over, there is not a scintilla of foundation for such 
a use of the figure. There is not a word in the 
New Testament to sustain it. Jesus never even 
referred to the church as his body. Nor did Paul 
ever write a syllable about completing the body of 
Christ. The metax^hor is indeed most appropriate, 
and sooner or later was sure to be used of Christ 
and his church. It is a graceful figure to express 
intimate, loving, and indissoluble relations, but 
is not intended to convey a crude physical fact. 
It illustrates a principle, not a process of anatomy. 
5. The church as a growing institution. While 
Jesus did not use the body as a symbol of the 
church, he did employ other figures which are 
beautiful and appropriate. He said to his dis- 
ciples : 

19 Ephesians 5. 31. 

160 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH 

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's 
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 20 

He carried out the idea of the flock in much that 
he said. He declared : 

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, 
and am known of mine. 

As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the 
Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

And other sheep I have, which are not of 
this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall 
hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and 
one shepherd. 21 

So he commissioned Peter to feed the lambs and 
the sheep, and to shepherd them tenderly. 22 Peter 
never forgot that charge, and he repeated it to 
those who came after him : 

Feed the flock of God which is among you. 23 

Paul took up the same exhortation : 

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to 
all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost 
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of 
God. 24 

It may well be asked why it would not be legiti- 
mate to speak of the church as a flock after the 
manner of Jesus, who reckoned on a big increase 
in his flock by the addition of sheep not in the 
fold to which he was ministering in person. 

Jesus had another figure for the church ; it was 
that of an edifice. 

I will build my church. 25 

That metaphor also took hold of the apostles: 

Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's build- 
ing. 26 



20 Luke 12. 32. ^Acts 20. 28. 

21 John 10. 14-16. ^Matthew 16. 18. 

22 John 21. 15-17. 26 1 Corinthians 3. 9. 
^1 Peter 5. 2. 

161 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 



And are built upon the foundation of the 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself be- 
ing the chief corner stone. 27 

Rooted and built up in him. 28 

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spir- 
itual house. 29 

Ye are the temple of God. 30 

Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. 31 

It may well be asked why it is not legitimate to 
speak of the church as a building, after the man- 
ner of Christ and his apostles, and to think of it 
as a structure which is one day to dominate the 
world when it is completed. 

Other figures also appear in the New Testa- 
ment. 

The church of the living God, the pillar and 
ground of the truth. 32 

A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an 
holy nation, a peculiar people. 33 

The general assembly and church of the first- 
born, which are written in heaven. 34 

The household of faith. 35 

The household of God. 36 

We should not have had all these figures if any 
one symbol were enough to express the full mean- 
ing of the church. Let us take them all together, 
and get the broader and richer meaning they con- 
vey when considered in all their various sug- 
gestions. The reason this was not done by cer- 
tain theorists is that the process would do away 



2T Ephesians 2. 20-22. 




32 1 Timothy 3. 


15. 


28 Colossians 2. 7. 




33 1 Peter 2. 9. 




29 1 Peter 2. 5. 




34 Hebrews 12. 


23. 


so l Corinthians 3. 16. 




35 Galatians 6. 


10. 


S1 l Corinthians 6. 19. 


162 


36 Ephesians 2. 


19. 



THE KINGDOM AND THE CHUECH 

forever with the narrow and exclusive notion they 
have of the church and the kingdom of God. 

We have thus seen that the church is not iden- 
tical with the kingdom, but that it is the most 
essential part of the kingdom. It will finally 
disappear in the kingdom, yet it will never cease 
to be. It is the body of Christ, the flock of Christ, 
the building of Christ, the outer vesture by which 
Christ is manifested to the world. It will never 
cease its activities while this world goes on its 
way. Christ is coming to reward his church and 
to judge the peoples of the earth, at the "end of 
the world. " What is meant by that phrase must 
next engage our attention. 



163 



CHAPTER X 
THE END OF THE WORLD 

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world for a witness unto 
all nations; and then shall the end come. — 
Matthew 2Jf. l£. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century 
there lived in Scotland a man of education and 
wealth named Isaac William Lillingston. His 
mother was a sister of William Wilberforce, the 
great abolitionist, and he was himself a philan- 
thropist who spent his money for the good of 
other people. He turned one of his residences into 
a hospital. He owned a yacht, which he used for 
the distribution of tracts to the vessels he met on 
the sea. He was a very religious man and had a 
large library of theological works. He was a 
student of prophecy and predicted that the year 
1837 would mark the end of the world and the re- 
turn of Christ in person. As if to confirm his fore- 
cast, there appeared in the heavens that very year 
an aurora of surpassing splendor visible in the 
whole region where he was living. As described 
by one who saw it, "in the zenith — right overhead 
— there appeared a corona, a circular open space, 
through which the clear sky was visible, and there, 
far away, a single diminutive star sparkled within 
the circle. ... It was impossible not to be 
awed by the sight. It seemed so likely too that 
the circular open space above us was designed for 
some special manifestation. ... To our appre- 
hension, it seemed as if within the range of the 
164 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

corona and its appendages was to be inaugurated, 
in the view of all mankind, the great event for 
which Mr. Lillingston and his friends were look- 
ing/' Night after night for nearly a week, when 
the sky was not clouded, this marvel appeared, 
and then it vanished as mysteriously as it had 
come, and the world went on as before. But the 
faith of the man who had watched this display 
with such devout expectations was not shaken. 
He began his calculations anew and continued 
them to the end of his days. 

This is essentially the story of innumerable 
disappointed hopes. There are men now living 
who look upon a gorgeous sunset as a possible 
token of their Lord's immediate appearance, and 
affirm that it would not surprise them if while they 
are gazing into the western sky he should issue 
in a chariot of fire through the opening clouds. 
The recent war aroused in the breasts of thou- 
sands the expectation that they would witness the 
end of the world. Generation after generation has 
taken some unusual outbreak of violence or some 
extraordinary catastrophe in nature as evidence 
of the early close of human history. As the re- 
turn of Christ is said to be connected with "the 
end of the world," it is important that we should 
inquire the meaning of that phrase. 

In ordinary speech, as well as in Scripture 
usage, "the end of the world" does not always 
stand for the same thing. It may mean the end 
of the planet's existence whereon we live, or it 
may denote the end of the present age, or it may 
signify the end of an earthly course of living as 
distinguished from a heavenly mode of life. It 
is plain that the present age of history could come 
to a close without bringing the end of this globe's 
career. It is also clear that life as we know it 
165 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

could be exchanged for a celestial form of exist- 
ence on this earth without the passing of the 
planet, though not without certain alterations in 
its present character. But the end of this earthly 
sphere would necessitate the end of the age and of 
any kind of life that had flourished here. Some- 
times these various meanings are so intermingled 
in the Bible that it is difficult to say which is the 
uppermost idea. There is something of this per- 
plexity in trying to tell what the disciples meant 
when they asked our Lord: "What shall be the 
sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?'' 1 
It is also hard to distinguish the exact meaning in 
other passages. As to the end of the planet, the 
Bible and science agree that it will be one day 
destroyed. As to the end of the age, the New 
Testament is our only authority. It predicts the 
termination of this age in unmistakable language. 
As to the end of a purely earthly existence on 
this globe, to be followed by a period of heavenly 
life before the final destruction of the world, that 
is very much a matter of speculation. We may 
take up these meanings of "the end of the world 77 
in the order in which they have been defined. 

1. The end of the earth. There is a passage in 
the psalms which made a deep impression on the 
New Testament writers, and which is a fine poetic 
prophecy of the vast convulsions in nature on 
which seers and apostles have meditated with 
much gravity : 

Thy years are throughout all generations. 

Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the 
earth: and the heavens are the work of thy 
hands. 

They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, 
all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a 



Matthew 24. 3. 

166 



THE END OF THE WOULD 

vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall 
be changed: 

But thou art the same, and thy years shall 
have no end. 2 

In the prophecy of Isaiah the same thought of 
earthly dissolution is expressed with additional 
poetic symbols : 

And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, 
and the heavens shall be rolled together as a 
scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as 
the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a fall- 
ing fig from the fig tree. 3 

The idea is carried on to the destruction of human 
life in the same prophecy : 

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look 
upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall 
vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall 
wax old like a garment, and they that dwell 
therein shall die in like manner. 4 

In the Epistle to the liebrews these passages are 
used by the author to express the glorious fact of 
Christ's eternity. 5 The language is so nearly 
a direct citation from the Old Testament that they 
need not be repeated here. The predictions of 
Jesus in his apocalyptic address are in the same 
fashion of speech. 

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my 
words shall not pass away. 6 

This is in harmony with what is said in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews : 

Yet once more I shake not the earth only, 
but also heaven. 



2 Psalm 102. 24-27. 
3 Isaiah 34. 4. 
4 Isaiah 51. 6. 
'Hebrews 1. 10-12. 
6 Matthew 24. 35. Mark 13. 31. 
167 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the 
removing of those things that are shaken, as of 
things that are made, that those things which 
cannot be shaken may remain. 7 

It is in the second epistle of Peter, however, and 
in the Apocalypse of John that we have the most 
graphic and definite descriptions of the end of 
the planet found in the Bible. In the first we 
read : 

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, 
by the same word are kept in store, reserved 
unto fire against the day of judgment and per- 
dition of ungodly men. 

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one 
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thou- 
sand years, and a thousand years as one day. 

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, 
as some men count slackness; but is longsuffer- - 
ing to us-ward, not willing that any should per- 
ish, but that all should come to repentance. 

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief 
in the night; in which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat, the earth also and works 
that are therein shall be burned up. 

Seeing then that all these things shall be dis- 
solved, what manner of persons ought ye to be 
in all holy conversation and godliness, 

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of 
the day of God, wherein the heavens being on 
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall 
melt with fervent heat? 

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, 
look for new heavens and a new earth. 8 

This catastrophe is described as occurring when 
Christ comes to judge the world, and the medium 
of destruction is. fire. The dissolution of nature 
is followed by the creation of new heavens and a 
new earth. We do not pause to ask whether these 

7 Hebrews 12. 26, 27. 
8 2 Peter 3. 7-13. 

168 



THE EXD OF THE WORLD 

words are to be taken literally or figuratively. But 
we point out that the process is repeated in the 
descriptions in the Apocalypse of John : 

And I saw a great white throne, and him that 
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
heaven fled away; and there was found no place 
for them. 9 

Likewise the anticipations of the prophecy of 
Isaiah are confirmed in the pictures in the Apoc- 
alypse of John : 

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new 
earth: and the former shall not be remembered, 
nor come into mind. 10 

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for 
the first heaven and the first earth were passed 
away. 11 

It is to be noted in this connection that the 
prophets (and there are passages from other 
prophets than Isaiah which might be quoted in 
illustration) had in mind, first of all, certain 
great calamities of a national type, when using 
language descriptive of the world's destruction. 
These merged in their thought, as we know, into 
the final Judgment. The apostles doubtless had 
also the last judgment of Christ upon mankind as 
the crisis which was to attend the destruction of 
this planet. Jesus, with that reserve which 
marked all his references to the long future, sim- 
ply said the heaven and the earth would pass 
away, leaving the time and the circumstances 
without definition. 

What modern physical science says on the des- 
tiny of our world may have no place in a discus- 



revelation 20. 11. . 
10 Isaiah 65. 17. 
^Revelation 21. 1. 

169 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ft 

sion which is based entirely on the Scriptures ; 
but it is interesting to observe that in our day 
scientists are teaching that our solar system was 
originally a whirling mass of fiery vapor, and 
that by contraction under the force of gravitation 
the sun and the planets which are hetd in order 
by it have become what we know them to be. But 
this contraction means loss of heat, and a slow 
process of cooling has been going on through the 
vast ages. The heat of the sun is thus being 
diminished, though this fact is not yet appre- 
ciable by our senses. After an immense stretch 
of time the sun will have become cold. Long be- 
fore that event, however, our earth and the other 
planets of our system will by the same process 
have become cold and therefore solid. They will 
then fall by gravitation into the sun. But this 
collision will generate enormous heat, which will 
turn the sun into fiery vapor once more, and every 
trace of our earth will be lost in the incandescent 
sea. Thus the words of Peter, which have often 
been ridiculed, seem to have substantiation in the 
speculations of science. 

2. The end of the age. To what extent the word 
translated "world" in the Authorized Version, in 
connection with the second advent of our Lord, 
should be rendered "age" probably always will be 
a question of scholarly dispute. In the original 
it is aion, from which we derive our word "seon," 
meaning an age of indefinite length. But it seems 
in New Testament usage not always to have 
meant precisely that. There is another word, 
kosrnos, meaning the universe, or the world, in a 
material sense, but this is not invariably used to 
denote the earth as one would expect it to be for 
the sake of clearness. The word axon is sometimes 
substituted for it. Take the following examples : 
170 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

By whom also he made the worlds. 12 

Through faith we understand that the worlds 
were framed by the word of God. 13 

Here aion is used, though the reference is unques- 
tionably to the material universe. There is a note- 
worthy passage in which kosmos and aion are 
used interchangeably : 

If any man among you seemeth to be wise in 
this world [aion], let him become a fool, that 
he may be wise. 

For the wisdom of this world [kosmos] is 
foolishness with God. 14 

It is, therefore, impossible to say that aion always 
means "age" and nothing else. However, we need 
not enter into an examination of passages whose 
meaning is uncertain. There are a few utter- 
ances of Jesus and several of the apostles which 
seem clear, and have a direct bearing on our sub- 
ject. One of these is the phrase translated "the 
end of the world" (aion), and three times so ren- 
dered in the parable of the tares. In the margin 
of the Revised Version we have the optional read- 
ing, "the consummation of the age," which seems 
much more desirable, since the field is called the 
world, and the word there used for world is 
kosmos. It is at "the end of the age" that our 
Lord is to separate the tares from the wheat in his 
kingdom. 15 

Precisely what the disciples meant in the ques- 
tion about the end of the world (aion), to which 
we have already referred, is not known to us. 
Since some of them clearly believed in the destruc- 
tion of the world in consequence of Christ's return 



2 Hebrews 1. 2. 14 1 Corinthians 3. 18, 19. 

3 Hebrews 11. 3. 15 Matthew 13. 39, 40, 49. 

171 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

to judgment, it is likely they meant the end of 
this earthly ball, as well as the consummation of 
the age. But there can be no doubt as to the 
meaning of the phrase in this passage : 

Now once in the end of the world hath he ap- 
peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of him- 
self. 16 

Here the use of "world" seems clearly incorrect, 
as the word is a ion used in the i)lural form. It 
is worth our attention that Christ is represented 
here as coming into the world through birth at 
the end of an historic period called "the ages." 
It is at the conclusion of one great epoch, and 
it constitutes the beginning of another. The word 
'"dispensation" is often applied to such a period ; 
and Jesus marks the opening of such a dispensa- 
tion, and by his second advent to the world will 
strike the hour of its close. 

In his great commission to his disciples just 
before his departure to heaven Jesus said : "Lo, 
I am with you alwaj, even unto the end of the 
world [aion]," according to the Authorized Ver- 
sion, though in the Revised Version the marginal 
reading is, "the consummation of the age" 17 Here 
again there is not much to choose between one 
rendering and the other. Yet it seems more de- 
sirable to say "the end of the age" than "the end 
of the world," even if we think the events should 
be regarded as identical. In any case, it is our 
deathless expectation that Christ always will be 
with those who love him in whatever worlds they 
may live, should destruction come to the world in 
which we have learned to love him. 

in referring to the story of the terrible punish- 

:G Hebrews 9. 26. 
1T Matthew 28. 20. 

172 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

ment which befell the children of Israel on a cer- 
tain occasion Paul says : 

Now all these things happened unto them for 
ensamples: and they are written for our admoni- 
tion, upon whom the ends of the world are 
come. 18 

The Eevised Version has "the ends of the ages," 
which is better, since the word for world is axon 
used in the plural form. The apostle doubtless 
felt, as did the author of the Epistle to the He- 
brews, in the passage quoted above, that the close 
of a dispensation was effected by the coming of 
Christ, or he may have felt that in the near return 
of Jesus, which he expected to witness, that end 
would be accomplished. 

It is at "the end of the age" that Christ is to 
return. This is the uniform testimony of the 
apostles, and it is the clear intimation of Jesus 
himself. How long after that return the world 
will endure is not known to us. Many persons 
look for a kind of middle kingdom or millennium 
to follow the return of Christ. But they also ex- 
pect that kingdom to be brought to an end after 
a certain period of peace and righteousness. They 
declare that evil will break out after this reign of 
goodness under Christ's personal presence has 
continued for a thousand years, that a final con- 
flict more terrible and massive than has ever 
cursed the earth before will take place, and then 
the middle kingdom having been passed over to 
God the Father, Christ will begin his* eternal 
reign, for which all ages and all dispensations 
have been preparing. To this scheme we shall 
offer convincing objections later. We do not be- 
lieve that after Christ has returned to judge, the 

18 1 Corinthians 10. 11. 

173 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

earth, he will ever be compelled to face tempo- 
rary defeat, and fight his battles over again for a 
final overthrow of the enemy. Hence we dis- 
card all ideas of a millennium covering a space 
thrown in between the gospel dispensation and 
the eternal reign of our Lord. When he returns 
he will come to wield an undisputed scepter, and 
to keep it forever. 

3. The end of the earthly life. There is nothing 
in the New Testament to prove that after Christ 
has returned the life of the world may not go on 
for centuries or ages. Indeed, there is enough to 
suggest the possibility of this. John's apocalyptic 
pictures of the city of the New Jerusalem inti- 
mate that perhaps he is not describing heaven, 
but a reconstructed society, a renewed world, a 
civilization totally rescued from iniquity. The 
rhetorical figures he uses could not be made to 
fit a heavenly existence any better than the} 7 will 
suit a wholly righteous order of community life 
in this world. Moreover, much that is found in 
the text of his wonderful book evidently means 
the church on earth. When that church has filled 
the whole earth, when the kingdom of heaven has 
reached its triumph among men, when all king- 
doms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
of his Christ, this world will indeed be heavenly 
in character. The imagination is dazzled by the 
prospect of such a world. On the platform where 
the plan of human redemption has been gloriously 
worked out to its perfection, one might naturally 
look for a period of triumphant manifestation of 
righteousness. This is all a matter of specula- 
tion, however, and we do not seek proof of it in 
the Scriptures. 

No such life could exist on this earth without 
important and decisive changes in the planetary 
174 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

conditions of the present. The sorrows of the 
world could not properly continue ; yet they could 
not be banished unless great changes were 
wrought in the very structure of the world. These 
changes are strongly hinted, to say the least, in 
the Scriptures. The old prophets are full of the 
notion. Jesus in his Olivet address speaks as if 
these expectations were in part shared by him- 
self. John's Apocalypse is capable of such an in- 
terpretation. All predictions of revolutions in 
nature may foreshadow it. We cannot make defi- 
nite statements about such mysteries; but we do 
no harm to ourselves or others by cherishing such 
ideas. 

4. The world growing better. While it is uncer- 
tain whether the world will continue to be the 
abode of the redeemed for any time after Christ's 
return, we have every reason to believe that, in the 
interval before the second advent, the world will 
constantly advance toward that state of right- 
eousness and peace, of which the prophets have 
dreamed and for which all good men have labored. 
We have among us many who hold the notion that 
this world is surely and rapidly growing worse, 
and will reach the very climax of iniquity just 
before Christ returns. Many who hold this opin- 
ion join to it the conviction that the time of the 
final or superlative wickedness is at hand; and 
that the coming of Christ to judgment is there- 
fore only a matter of a short time. That the world 
is growing worse is a harmful teaching, and we 
should set ourselves firmly against it. It is un- 
true, and anything false is sure to work injury 
if encouraged. 

Huxley said of Herbert Spencer that the lat- 
ter's idea of a tragedy was "a deduction killed by 
a fact." That is the kind of tragedy the pes- 
175 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

simist is facing all the time, though evidently not 
aware of it. He argues from misinterpreted scrip- 
ture that human society is rushing to destruction. 
The fact which kills his deduction is that the 
world of people is visibly growing better, and the 
majority of men realize it. Before the w r ar a 
Canadian woman returned from her first visit to 
England with an unpleasant impression of the 
British gentleman's mood at breakfast. "He 
comes down scowling/' she said, "grumbles that 
his coffee is cold, props his newspaper in front of 
him, and exclaims, This country is going to the 
dogs.' " That habit of finding fault with the na- 
tion, so widely exhibited before the war, was one 
of the reasons the former Kaiser thought it would 
be safe to smite England. If the devil took some 
nominal Christians at their word, he might sup- 
pose that he could crush the church at any min- 
ute. He knows better, however, and perceives 
that his clutch on the world is being perpetually 
loosened. The times are not getting worse. It 
requires the grossest misconception of life, not to 
say total blindness as to the progress of civiliza- 
tion, to hold any such view of life as we see it 
about us. The individual human heart is, of 
course, no better naturally than it ever was. The 
greatest crimes are still possible. Nothing so 
dreadful that it could not be repeated has ever 
happened. The recent war is evidence of it. But 
alongside this fact is another fact not to be 
denied, that society as a whole has advanced great 
distances. The church increases in power and in- 
fluence every day. The spirit of the hour is one 
of gentleness, kindness and pity. These graces 
are the children of love. Brotherliness among na- 
tions, as w T ell as among individuals, is rapidly 
growing. The churches are coming together. 
176 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

When a group of nations are guilty of a vast 
apostasy from righteousness and humanity, vir- 
tually all the rest of the civilized nations on the 
globe take up arms against them, not for national 
glory, but for the purpose of putting down a cruel 
despotism. One of the most Christian by-pro- 
ducts of the recent war is the determination 
fought out in Europe that "the strong shall bear 
the infirmities of the weak." Christ must have 
smiled with approval on the new sentiment which 
actuated nations massed against Teuton and Turk- 
ish hordes. Other evidences of the increasing 
righteousness of our times will rise up in the mind 
of any thoughtful person, who is not made hope- 
less, in spite of facts, by a preconceived doctrine 
which cannot stand without pessimism. 

But it is argued against all observed facts of 
our present civilization that the words of the 
prophets, of the apostles, and of Jesus himself, 
require us to say that the world is growing worse, 
and that it will so continue till the end of the 
age. We claim that a right understanding of the 
Scriptures will show that they teach nothing of 
this sort. Let us look at the words of Jesus, on 
which sometimes this view T is based. 

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in 
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and 
the waves roaring; 

Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for 
looking after those things which are coming on 
the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be 
shaken. 19 

This is so surely a reference to the destruction of 
Jerusalem and the calamities to attend it, that it 
could be dismissed at once as an indication of 



1(, Luke 21. 25, 26. 

177 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER • 

the frightfulness to come with the return of Christ 
to the world. Moreover, it is a rhetorical phras- 
ing of recurrent disasters in the world. How often 
in the history of mankind has all this happened ! 
The same may be said of another passage bearing 
on the same matter: 

Then shall be great tribulation, such as was 
not since the beginning of the world to this 
time, no, nor ever shall be. 

And except those days should be shortened, 
there should no flesh be saved; but for the 
elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 20 

Here again the destruction of Jerusalem is in 
mind. But, in any case, there is no statement that 
the world will be any worse, much less that it 
will have reached the very acme of wickedness at 
that time. Nor can we find anything in the words 
of Jesus to signify this. 

It will be objected by some that in the parable 
of the leaven 21 Jesus intimated that the world 
would grow worse because leaven is so constantly 
used in the Bible to signify corruption. But 
there are two facts which rob this theory of any 
standing in reason. 1. It is the kingdom of heaven, 
and not the world, which is likened to the leaven, 
and the most inveterate pessimist would hardly 
go so far as to say that the kingdom of heaven 
is going to become hopelessly corrupt. 2. Leaven 
is not invariably used to typify what is evil. 
Trench and others have shown that the same figure 
may be employed to illustrate two opposite things. 
For example, the lion is in one instance a symbol 
of the devil, and in another the type of Christ. 22 

20 Matthew 24. 21, 22. 
21 Matthew 13. 33. 

22 1 Peter 5. 8; Revelation 5. 5. See Trench, Parables 
of our Lord, p. 113. 

178 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

Furthermore, Professor Snowden has pointed out 
two cases in the Old Testament — Leviticus 7. 13 
and Leviticus 23. 17 — in which leaven is required 
in an offering to Jehovah in order that it may 
be acceptable to him. 23 Here is the clearest pos- 
sible proof that leaven may in scriptural usage 
signify that which is good. In the parable of the 
leaven we have an illustration of an expectation 
just contrary to that which certain adventists 
entertain. The kingdom of heaven is to spread 
through the whole body of society until all civil- 
ization has been impregnated with its spirit. The 
parable of the mustard seed 24 teaches the same 
truth. The fancy that the birds which lodge in 
its branches are to be taken as figures of the 
dreadful evils which are harbored in the church 
is almost too preposterous even to deserve men- 
tion. The question, "When the Son of man 
cometh, shallhe find faith on the earth ?" 25 is very 
far from being an assertion that he will not find 
it, but is simply the expression of one of those 
uncertainties which characterized the knowledge 
of our Lord in his human estate, like the time of 
his return about which he said he was ignorant. 
In the parable of the tares 26 the point is not that 
evil will destroy the good in the field of the world, 
but that both good and evil will be present till 
the end of the age, when the evil will be utterly 
consumed. 

But, it will be urged, the apostles certainly did 
speak of the last times and the latter days as 
evil beyond any others. This is true, and it is 
also true that the last times were the times imme- 



23 Snowden, The Coming of the Lord, pp. 73, 74. 

24 Matthew 13. 31, 32. 

25 Luke 18. 8. 

26 Matthew 13. 24-30; 37-43, 

179 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

diately following their own times. That is, they 
had no expectation that the world was going to- 
endure but for a short period. They saw things 
moving to a head. Matters were growing worse 
in their day, which they thought to be "the end 
of the age." Hence they wrote such forecasts as 
these : 

Knowing this first, that there shall come in 
the last days scoffers, walking after their own 
lusts, 

And saying, Where is the promise of his com- 
ing? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things 
continue as they were from the beginning of the 
creation. 27 

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in 
the latter times some shall depart from the 
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc- 
trines of devils.- 8 

This know also, that in the last days peril- 
ous times shall come. 

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, 
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedi- 
ent to parents, unthankful, unholy, 

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false 
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those 
that are good. 

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleas- 
ures more than lovers of God; 

Having a form of godliness, but denying the 
power thereof: from such turn away. 29 

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse 
and worse, deceiving, and being deceived, 30 

TTe know that "the last times" meant to the 
prophets the crisis which they were predicting at 
the moment and which they expected to appear in 
the near future. This also was the case with the 
Xew Testament writers. Every passage from 
Paul and the other apostles speaking of the perils 

27 2 Peter 3. 3, 4. 29 2 Timothy 3. 1-5. 

Timothy 4. 1. 30 2 Timothy 3. 13. 

180 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

that were ahead, referred to the age in which 
they were living. It is impossible to read those 
words as specifically applying in the mind of 
the writer to any later period of history. Paul and 
the others had no thought of the twentieth cen- 
tury after Christ. They could not imagine that 
dispensation in which they lived lasting so long. 
It was daily approaching its termination. There- 
fore they confidently predicted that the end would 
be calamitous. And the end of their age was 
calamitous. Their prophecies were abundantly 
fulfilled. The Roman empire persecuted Chris- 
tians remorselessly. Apostasies of a frightful 
character occurred. The followers of Christ in 
many cases defaulted. Everything said about 
false teachers and prophets took place. But it is 
utterly impossible to make the words of the 
apostles fit our age. They will not fit u the end of 
the age." The whole trend of modern history 
would need to be suddenly and radically changed 
to make them a probability for the generations to 
come. The world grows brighter instead of 
darker. There are lapses now and then, but the 
general sweep of history is upward, and always 
has been since Christ came into the world and 
with his hands began to shape the course of na- 
tions. 31 

5. The climax of history. Here is the conclu- 
sion of the whole matter: The prophets were 
convinced that in each of the periods in which 
they lived and prophesied things would grow 
much worse before they could become better; and 
this is precisely what occurred. The apostles were 
convinced in their day that things would have to 

31 For a fuller discussion of the question, "Is the world 
growing better?" see When Christ Comes Again, Eck- 
man, pp. 158-203; 332-342. Revised Edition. 
181 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

get worse before they became better; and this is 
exactly what occurred. In fact, that is the way 
in which history has always run. Things do get 
worse before they get better in each wave of re- 
form which has shaken the world. They were 
worse in the Roman empire than they had ever 
been just before the gospel conquered and swept 
over the whole vast domain of the Caesars. Things 
were worse in the church than they had ever been 
just before the great Reformation of the sixteenth 
century spread over Europe and moved across the 
Atlantic to the Americas. Things were worse 
than ever in England in morals and religion than 
they had ever been just before the great Wesleyan 
Revival ; worse than ever they had been in France 
when the Revolution broke out in its w T ild fury. 
They were worse than ever in many parts of the 
world before the late war. Yet events were about 
to bloom into new flowers of right and might for 
God and humanity. It is a philosophy of history 
which the commonest man can understand. It is 
darkest before dawn. Day follows night. The 
storm clears the sky for sunshine. History moves 
in such cycles. The world is down for a brief 
spell; then it goes up, and always beyond the 
point it had heretofore attained. At last it will 
reach its zenith. It is then that Christ will come 
to claim his own and to appoint the destinies of 
men and nations. 

The apostles were absolutely true to their own 
day, to their own inspired convictions, to the peo- 
ple to whom they ministered, and to the facts be- 
fore them. They did write for all time respecting 
the principles of a Christian life. They will never 
be obsolete. It is fine to read what they had to 
say to their own generation about church disci- 
pline, domestic economy, and many other things. 
182 



THE END OF THE WORLD 

But no man fashions a church or conducts his 
home after the plans the apostles gave to their 
generation. No more do we feel that what they 
said about the close of the age in which they lived 
should be applied to the final experiences of the 
world. The apostasy they predicted has occurred, 
and doubtless will be occurring from century to 
century, till Christ is Lord of all. The Antichrist 
they figured has appeared, and will appear again 
and again, is perhaps appearing at this very hour. 
To this subject let us now turn. 



183 



CHAPTER XI 
THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

For many deceivers are entered into the 
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an 
antichrist. — 2 John 7. 

In the National Gallery in London there is a 
picture by Botticelli intended to encourage the 
followers of Savonarola, who was executed in 
1498, and to inspire them with the expectation of 
final triumph for their cause. It bears a Greek 
inscription in the painters own hand which, 
translated into English, reads: u This picture I, 
Alessandro, painted at the end of the year 1500, 
in the troubles of Italy, in the halftime after 
the time during the fulfillment of the eleventh of 
St. John, in the second woe of the Apocalypse, in 
the loosing of the devil for three years and a half. 
Afterward he shall be confined, and we shall see 
him trodden down, as in this picture/' The time 
referred to is the brief x^eriod immediately fol- 
lowing the death of Savonarola when the city of 
Florence, released from the rigidity of the re- 
former's rule, went wild with dissipation and ex- 
cesses. 

Botticelli's picture is an illustration of the ever- 
lasting disposition of certain minds to fix upon 
a current event as the direct fulfillment of some 
mysterious item in the drama of the Apocalypse. 
The converse of this tendency is the effort to turn 
allusions to historic characters in the Old Testa- 
ment into prophecies of something yet to come. 
184 



THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

This habit is exhibited in the attempt to define 
the Antichrist in terms which have been used 
with reference to persons who already have passed 
off the stage of action. For example, a composite 
picture of the Antichrist has been made out of 
descriptions of various individuals found in the 
ancient prophecies. The following quotation may 
be taken in illustration. 

How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, 
son of the morning! how art thou cut down to 
the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will as- 
cend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above 
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount 
of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; 
I will be like the most High. 

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the 
sides of the pit. 1 

This was written of the king of Babylon, as the 
context makes perfectly clear, but certain per- 
sons who have a theory to support take it as signi- 
fying the Antichrist, and are very impatient with 
anyone who does not agree with them. 

The same process is used with certain dramatic 
passages in the book of Daniel. Taking lines from 
the seventh, eighth, ninth, and eleventh chapters. 2 
and combining them, a portrait is made of the 
Antichrist in which the following is the finishing 
stroke of the picture : 

And the king shall do according to his will; 
and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself 
above every god, and shall speak marvelous 
things against the God of gods, and shall pros- 
per till the indignation be accomplished: for 
that that is determined shall be done. 3 



Isaiah 14. 12-15. 
2 Daniel 7. 8; 8. 9; 9. 26. 
3 Daniel 11. 36. 

185 



THE EETUKN OF THE EEDEEMEK 

Scholars are quite agreed that these are allusions 
to Antiochus Epij)hanes, who did exalt himself 
above God and was a most remorseless persecutor 
of the people of Israel. No more profane or sacri- 
legious wretch ever harried the Jews, and his 
overthrow marked the climax in one of the dark- 
est epochs in the history of the Jews. But per- 
sons of a certain temper insist that the passages 
referred to designate the Antichrist who is yet to 
appear. 

1. Sources of the Antichrist idea. Before examin- 
ing other citations of Scripture used to build up 
the doctrine of the Antichrist let us seek the 
origin of this teaching. The idea that good and 
evil are in deadly conflict in the universe is as 
old as the human mind. It is found in the my- 
thologies of pagan nations as surely as in the rev- 
elations of the Christian religion. It is a universal 
conviction that the good and the bad are measur- 
ing swords and will continue till the good has 
mastered the evil. 

But this conflict of good and evil can only be 
expressed in terms of personality. It is impos- 
sible to think of abstract goodness or abstract 
evil. Good can only be realized in the good 
thoughts, feelings, purposes, and actions of good 
persons. Evil can only be expressed in the evil 
thoughts, feelings, purposes, and deeds of bad 
persons. Whoever tries to think of good and evil 
apart from personality will soon discover the im- 
possibility of doing it. To make a mental pic- 
ture of the atmosphere, of heat, or of electricity 
would be easier. 

Hence the human mind comes inevitably first to 

the idea of good and evil spirits, and then to the 

notion of supremacy among such spirits. In some 

pagan religions there is not a supreme spirit of 

186 



THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

evil, but many malign divinities ; in others the 
principles of good and evil are respectively em- 
bodied in a single individual. That is the con- 
ception of Judaism, and it is an idea inherited 
by the Christian religion. God is goodness per- 
sonified. Satan is evil personified. Evil asks for 
divine homage. Satan is portrayed in the story 
of Christ's temptation as demanding that Jesus 
bow down and worship him. 

The idea that good and evil must be expressed 
in the thoughts, feelings, purposes, and deeds of 
persons does not stop with spirits in the invisible 
w T orld, but carries over to human beings in this 
w r orld. Good men exhibit goodness and bad men 
exhibit badness. But among men there are de- 
grees of goodness and badness. It is easy to 
conceive of one supremely bad man in history, 
and equally easy to conceive of one supremely 
good man. The pagan writers often tried to 
imagine the ideal man. Christianity reveals him 
in Jesus of Nazareth, Son of man and Son of 
God. The supremely evil man is also an age-long 
notion. It came to its clearest phrasing in the 
Jewish religion. Such a man would be the re- 
lentless foe of Israel and of Israel's God. He 
would exalt himself to the throne of Deity. That 
idea also descended to the Christian religion. As 
Christ is the supremely good Person, the su- 
premely evil person will be his inveterate foe, 
otherwise known as the Antichrist. As Christ 
came into the world to exhibit God's goodness, 
so Antichrist will come into the world to oppose 
his progress. The whole conflict will head up 
in a personal encounter between Christ and the 
Antichrist. The result will be the defeat of the 
Antichrist. This is the tradition of centuries. 

In this connection it should be noted that the 
1S7 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

doctrine of the Antichrist has its support in books 
entirely outside of the Old Testament. Jewish 
writings, later than the book of Daniel or any 
other document in the Old Testament, and which 
w^ere extant at the time of Christ's advent to the 
world, contained the idea in various and grotesque 
forms. These writings w T ere not admitted to the 
Sacred Scriptures because they plainly are not of 
such a character as entitled them to the authority 
of divinely inspired productions. In such books 
as Esdras 2 in the Apocrypha, and in the Apoc- 
alypse of Baruch, and the Assumption of Moses, 
books which Christians seldom read, and of which 
most Christians have never heard, we have these 
queer foreshadowings of an Antichrist who will 
rise up against the Messiah and deceive many per- 
sons by his outward resemblance to the Messiah 
w-hile at heart he is his inveterate enemy. This 
literature was in the hands of the Jews during 
Christ's life on the earth, and continued to be in 
the hands of the Christians after our Lord's as- 
cension. Some of it was written later than our 
New Testament books. Furthermore, the notion 
of an Antichrist was prominent in popular speech. 
It was the common feeling of the day that op- 
position to the Messiah would concentrate itself 
in some huge superhuman being who would 
finally be destroyed by the hand of the Messiah. 
This view was sustained by reference to such 
passages as those quoted above. Even when it 
w T as admitted that these passages described ac- 
tual personages who had disappeared from the 
earth, it was held that they were simply proto- 
types or prophecies of the coming Antichrist. 
That is the view still held by certain persons in 
our time, and it is our business to inquire how far 
they are justified in their position. 
188 



THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

Did Jesus give any support to this idea? Let 
us examine what he actually said as recorded in 
the Gospels : 

For many shall come in my name, saying, I 
am Christ; and shall deceive many. 4 

And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here 
is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 

For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, 
and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if 
it were possible, even the elect. 

But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you 
all things. 5 

And he said, Take heed that ye be not de- 
ceived: for many shall come in my name, say- 
ing, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: 
go ye not therefore after them. 6 

All the things thus predicted have actually oc- 
curred. They took place within a generation after 
Christ's ascension, and they have been repeating 
themselves ever since. It is necessary to observe, 
however, that Christ did not predict any one 
Antichrist. He did recognize the conflict with 
Satan, but the doctrine of the Antichrist does not 
identify Satan and Antichrist as the same person. 
Jesus said on a certain occasion, 

I am come in my Father's name, and ye re- 
ceive me not: if another shall come in his own 
name, him ye will receive. 7 

This rebuke was addressed to the unbelieving 
Jews, but had no reference to a specific individ- 
ual ; it simply pointed out the blind bigotry of his 
enemies. 

2. Apostolic teaching about the Antichrist. Ref- 
ences already made to the habit of making historic 
characters prefigure the coming x\ntichrist will 

4 Matthew 24. 5. 6 Luke 21. 8. 

5 Mark 13. 21-23. 7 John 5. 43. 

189 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Iielp us to understand what the apostle Paul said 
and wrote about the Antichrist. He evidently car- 
ried over to his times the traditions of the He- 
brew people. He was first of all an intense Jew 
of the straitest sect of the Pharisees. Probably 
there was then no better educated man in the 
literature of Judaism. His writings are colored 
by Jewish symbolism. He used the Old Testament 
largely, quoting from it abundantly. He had the 
common idea of the Antichrist. It crept out in 
the first productions of his pen. He shared the 
belief of Christ's followers that their Lord would 
soon return, probably within their lifetime, in 
his First Epistle to the Thessalonians he w T ent so 
far as to describe the manner in which Christ 
would return. He was so emphatic respecting the 
second advent that he led some superficial Thessa- 
lonian Christians to fancy that they need not keep 
up the regular business of life, since Christ would 
quickly return. To check this mischief Paul 
wrote a second epistle in which he warned the 
Thessalonians against a premature expectation 
of Christ's return. He says : 

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering 
together unto him, 

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be 
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor 
by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ 
is at hand. 

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that 
day shall not come, except there come a falling 
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the 
son of perdition; 

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all 
that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that 
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing 
himself that he is God. 

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with 
you, I told you these things? 
190 



THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

And now ye know what withholdeth that he 
might be revealed in his time. 

For the mystery of iniquity doth already 
work: only he who now letteth will let, until 
he be taken out of the way. 

And then shall the Wicked be revealed, whom 
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his 
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness 
of his coming. 8 

A great deal more has been made of this passage 
than is warranted. Saint Augustine said of it, 
"I frankly confess that I do not know what the 
apostle means, but I will nevertheless set down 
such conjectures as I have heard and read." That 
is about all that anyone can do. Attempts to 
explain this curious passage break down in pro- 
portion, as the effort is made to give a literal in- 
terpretation to each of its parts, and to apply 
them to some specific individual. He, Paul, does 
not use the word "Antichrist," but he describes 
what he is held to be in popular conception. He 
uses just such phraseology as one would expect 
from a man who was alluding to a figure which 
his readers would understand, and he admonishes 
them that according to the popular view Christ 
could not return until this dread superman had 
appeared, and a terrible falling away from the 
faith had occurred, at which crisis the Lord would 
come and destroy the "man of sin." He calls up 
this picture to turn the Thessalonians away from 
the foolish idea that Jesus would come back any 
minute. He never mentions the subject again. 
His next book is addressed to the Corinthians and 
was written only a few years after Second Thes- 
salonians. A little later came the Epistle to the 
Romans. Then other letters follow until thir- 
teen have been produced. In not one of these 
8 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-8. 

191 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

books is there any reference io the Antichrist. 
This portrait was drawn for Thessalonians then 
living, and not for Christians of the twentieth 
century after Christ. To the former it was per- 
fectly clear; to the latter it is simply an enigma. 
It is idle to look in our day for the counterpart 
of a picture drawn to represent some monster in 
apostolic times. Just as Isaiah referred to the 
king of Babylon, and Daniel to Antiochus 
Epiphanes, so Paul may have fastened on the 
despot in Rome as the suitable embodiment of 
"the son of perdition. " On the other hand, the 
whole thing may have been symbolical. In any 
case Paul apparently had no further interest in 
this superlative incarnation of wickedness. He 
was deeply concerned with respect to the many 
Antichrists which were already busy in the world, 
and whose successors he believed would be numer- 
ous. The epistles to Timothy contain earnest 
warnings against these haters of Christ. 9 

Another great writer, also a thorough Jew, w T ho 
has something to say on this subject is the apostle 
John. It is interesting to note that he is the 
only writer in the Bible who uses the word "Anti- 
christ." We find it only in his first and second 
epistles, and his mental development respecting 
this subject seems to have been much like that of 
the apostle Paul. Before he wrote his epistles, 
and long before his Gospel was written, he pro- 
duced the book of Revelation. Remembering what 
an apocalypse is, we shall not vex our souls over 
the vain effort to fit every line of this wonderful 
book to some event which has occurred, or which 
is yet to occur. Like the other apostles, -John 
first looked for the destruction of Jerusalem, the 



8 1 Timothy 4. 1-3. 2 Timothy 3. 1-8, 13. 
192 



THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

end of the age, and the return of Christ, all to 
come very soon and probably within his life- 
time. It was a troubled age. Persecution was 
rife. Satanic power seemed to be let loose on 
the earth. He writes to buoy up disheartened 
Christians. He has the Antichrist literature be- 
fore him. He too has read Isaiah, Daniel, Eze- 
kiel, and the others. He freely borrows from 
them the imagery he uses, changing where he likes. 
There are at least live pictures in the book of 
Revelation which have been identified as referring 
to the Antichrist. There is "the beast that as- 
cendeth out of the bottomless pit" to make war 
against the u two witnesses," which the painter 
Botticelli, as we have seen, called the loosing 
of the devil ; 10 the "great red dragon, having seven 
heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his 
heads," which is also designated "that old ser- 
pent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth 
the whole world"; 11 the beast which rose "up out 
of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and 
upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads 
the name of blasphemy"; 12 "another beast com- 
ing out of the earth," 13 later called "the false 
prophet"; 14 "the scarlet-colored beast, full of 
names of blasphemy." 15 A lot of dreary learning 
has been used in the vain effort to fasten these 
descriptions on individuals. Doubtless the writer 
had persons of his own time in his mind, and these 
were described anonymously because it would be 
unsafe to fix an actual person with such dread- 
ful portraits. However, the Christians living in 
that time w^ould understand the reference without 
names. 

10 Revelation 11. 7. See p. 184. l3 Revelation 13. 11. 

"Revelation 12. 3, 9. "Revelation 16. 13. 

i "Revelation 13. 1. 15 Revelation 17. 3. 
193 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

We have had an illustration of this method in 
recent times. Shortly after the late Kaiser of 
Germany came to his throne, a book appeared from 
the pen of a university professor which on the 
surface seemed to be a sincere biography of Ca- 
ligula, the Roman emperor. It ran quickly through 
thirty editions, as the conviction grew that it was 
not the Roman emperor whom the author was 
describing, but the new Kaiser whose name was 
never mentioned, but whose characteristics w r ere 
plainly disclosed. What was put forth as a very 
faithful biography of Caligula was recognized as 
a very shrewd satire on William of Hohenzollern. 
In some such clever way the apostle John, and 
perhaps the apostle Paul, stamped the infamy of 
the reigning emperor of Rome. They did not use 
his name, but they described his iniquities, assign- 
ing them to the Antichrist, and thus saving them- 
selves from the charge of treason to the emperor, 
while making clear to their generation precisely 
w r hat they meant. 

3. The clue to the Antichrist puzzle. It is in the 
epistles of John, however, that we have the clear- 
est teaching about the Antichrist. These were 
probably written later than the book of Revela- 
tion, after John had meditated much on the ob- 
scure question. He now evidently went back to 
the predictions of Jesus about the false Christs. 
For convenience let us group all that John says 
about the Antichrist doctrine into one exhibit. 

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye 
have heard that antichrist shall come, even now 
are there many antichrists; whereby we know 
that it is the last time. 16 

Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus 



6 1 John 2. 18. 

194 






THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the 
Father and the Son. 17 

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and 
this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have 
heard that it should come; and even now al- 
ready is it in the world. 18 

For many deceivers are entered into the 
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come 
- in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti- 
christ. 19 

These are the last words in the Bible, in time of 
production, which bear on the Antichrist doc- 
trine. In fact, they are the only specific words on 
that subject. No one else has used the designation. 
Let us see what is implied in these facts when 
taken in conjunction with the words of the 
apostle. He says it is the "last time." He wrote 
that nineteen centuries ago. It was then to him 
the "last time," and the proof of it was that the 
spirit of Antichrist was in the world. He reminds 
his readers that they had heard that Antichrist 
should come — that was the popular conception — 
and now he says that in place of one Antichrist 
such as tradition had described, it is evident that 
there are many Antichrists, and for that reason 
they may know that "it is the last time." Of 
course John was referring to his own age, and it 
is nothing short of folly for anybody to suppose 
that he was referring to our age, or any subse- 
quent age. He believed that he was in the last 
time, or what the prophets had called the "latter 
times," or "the last days." There is a sense in 
which this was literally true, for "the last time" 

17 1 John 2. 22. 
18 1 John 4. 3. 
19 2 John 7. 

195 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

may be said to refer to the dispensation of the 
grace which opened when our Lord came to this 
world. How long that "last time'' will endure no 
prophet has indicted and no mind can conjec- 
ture, but it may be regarded as the final dispensa- 
tion, though it may last for ages. 

However, as in the original, there is no article 
before the phrase "last time." It is possible to 
translate it as "a last time." Every distinct 
epoch in human history is "a last time." We are 
in such an era now. A new civilization is being 
made possible by the great world war. Many 
"last times" have been occurring from the day 
Jesus ascended until this hour. Divine Provi- 
dence punctuates the record of history in that 
way, putting down a comma, a semicolon, a pe- 
riod, or marks of parenthesis, as may best suit; 
and if we read history aright, we shall be able 
to pick out these marks of division. But we need 
not quibble over the matter. The fact is that 
the end of the world did not come in John's day, 
and has not come since. Hence the presence of 
Antichrist in the world did not mean that the 
age was about to terminate. 

Suppose any man could have lived continuously 
for the last two thousand years, and, like "the 
Wandering Jew" of legend, could have been con- 
temporary with all the events of the Christian 
era ; he would have said with the people of John's 
time that Nero was the Antichrist. But when 
Nero died and the world still swung on, he would 
have been compelled to change his mind. Twenty- 
five years later he might have said that Domitian 
was the Antichrist because his persecutions were 
in a sense more remorseless than those of Nero, 
but when Domitian disappeared he would have 
been compelled to revise his judgment. In the 
196 






THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

sixth century he would have seen the spread of 
Mohammedanism, and, like the people of that 
day, he would have said that the Arab prophet 
was the Antichrist. This conviction he would 
have surrendered w 7 hen he saw in later days Chris- 
tianity overcoming Mohammedanism and sweep- 
ing back the tide of Moslem power. He then 
might have considered the pontiff of Rome the 
Antichrist, as was once the theory of many, but 
since the world w^ent on and Christ did not return 
he would again have been called upon to take an- 
other attitude. In the beginning of the nineteenth 
century he w r ould have probably felt, as did many 
people at that time, that Napoleon Bonaparte 
was the Antichrist. And in the early years of the 
twentieth century he w T ould share the opinion* of 
thousands that William of Hohenzollern is the 
Antichrist. But as neither after the Napoleonic 
wars nor after the world war of the twentieth cen- 
tury did Christ return as conqueror, his ideas 
of the Antichrist would require further amend- 
ment. Thus w r e have represented in one figure 
what have actually been the successive experiences 
of millions of people during the last nineteen cen- 
turies. 

4. Antichrist explained. John's definition of the 
Antichrist sets us on the right path to discover 
the solution of this ancient problem. u He is anti- 
christ, that denieth the Father and the Son." 
"Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
Christ is come in the flesh. ... is that spirit 
of antichrist." "Many deceivers are entered into 
the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh. This is . . .an antichrist." 20 
Antichrist is, therefore, a spirit diffused through 



*>1 John 2. 22; 4. 3; 2 John 7. 
197 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

an indefinite number of persons rather than an 
individual. That there will be the outstanding 
figure among such persons is a natural conclusion, 
and has been often verified in the Christian era, 
as we have seen. Nor is there any reason to deny 
that such a wretch as Antiochus Epiphanes may 
be regarded as a prototype of Antichrist. That 
ultimately one Antichrist shall appear whose "bad 
eminence" will overtop the wickedness of all 
others is not against reason. Civilization devel- 
ops the evil inherent in human nature as well 
as the good. Alongside of the best Christians will 
rise the most infamous enemies of truth. The 
w T heat and the tares will grow together till the 
end. But the supremely wicked one, like all other 
Antichrists, will be destroyed by the breath of 
Christ's mouth, as the tares will be burned in the 
fire. 

Antichrist is many. His name is legion. The 
marks of the beast are plain. The denier and de- 
famer of Christ, the hater and libeler of the 
Saviour, the enemy of the Redeemer wearing a 
mask of righteousness to deceive if possible the 
very elect — this is Antichrist. The words of John 
may be applied to our ow T n day. It is "a last 
time," and in proof of it we find that "even now 
are there many antichrists." Here are Bolshevists 
in religion not less than in political movements; 
war lords plunging the yvorld into fratricidal 
strife; teachers of false philosophy and counter- 
feit Christianity as foundations of cruelty; advo- 
cates and promoters of silly but seductive substi- 
tutes for revealed religion; preachers of emascu- 
late Christianity denying the deity of Christ; 
nominal Christians seeking to divide the church 
by proclaiming strange doctrines to which they 
give supreme importance; members of Christian 
198 






THE PUZZLE OF THE ANTICHRIST 

bodies having the form of godliness but denying 
the power thereof, fallen away from their first 
love and imbued with the spirit of worldliness; 
victims of pride and selfishness who stand in 
Christ's way though bearing his name. These are 
Antichrists. Their kind embarrassed the apostolic 
church, and played havoc through all the Chris- 
tian centuries. Their successors are with us to- 
day. Our chief concern should be that we do not 
ourselves become like them. The huge Antichrist 
of tradition may never throw his baleful shadow 
across our pathway, but through unfaithfulness 
we may frustrate the Grace of God and carry the 
sign of Antichrist. The colossal superman, in 
whom is concentrated the fullest measure of in- 
iquity, is a mere specter in comparison w T ith the 
flesh and blood Antichrists which even the church 
may for a time harbor in her bosom. Fortunately, 
the majority of such apostates from the faith do 
not continue in the fellowship of Christ's disci- 
ples. Eventually they go to their own place and 
array themselves in the ranks of recognized ene- 
mies. They are not numerous when counted 
against the increasing host of Christ's true fol- 
lowers. We may say of them what John wrote of 
their class in his day : 

They went out from us, but they were not of 
us; for if they had been of us, they would no 
doubt have continued with us: but they went 
out, that they might be made manifest that they 
were not all of us. 21 



21 1 John 2. 19. 



199 



CHAPTER XII 
THE MILLENNIUM 

The earth shall be full of the knowledge 
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. — 
Isaiah 11. 9. 

The kingdoms of this world are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and 
he shall reign for ever and ever. — Revelation 
11. 15. 

When the slave trade was banished from the 
British dominions in 1807, it is said that William 
Wilberforce turned to his friend Thornton and 
asked, "What shall we abolish next?" The Eng- 
lish philanthropist had fought tirelessly for this 
reform, but no sooner had it been won than he 
was eager to remove another iniquity from the 
social fabric of his nation. That spirit w r as dis- 
tinctly Christian. It has distinguished the dis- 
ciples of Jesus from the days of the apostles. It 
looks forward to the day when all intrenched evil 
shall have been rooted out, and society shall have 
been purged of its hoary sins. 

That process of redeeming the world from the 
tyranny of wrong, which may be described as 
having begun at the instant the promise was given 
that the seed of the woman should bruise the ser- 
pent's head, entered upon its final phase when 
Christ was born in Bethlehem. Then commenced 
the fulfillment of those prophecies which from 
ancient days had foretold the triumph of the Mes- 
siah's rule. Then opened the era of righteousness 
and peace which is eventually to be crowned with 
the undisputed sovereignty of our Lord upon the 
earth. John Milton in his poem on "The Morn- 
200 






THE MILLENNIUM 

ing of Christ's Nativity" was true to fact when 
he affirmed that at the birth of the Redeemer all 
the powers of evil were shaken with a mighty 
dread, knowing full well that the kingdom of 
darkness was at that hour smitten with a fatal 
blow. A right comprehension of the beginning 
gave the poet a sure anticipation of the end : 

And then at last our bliss 
Full and perfect is, 

But now begins; for from this happy day, 
The old Dragon, underground 
In straiter limits bound, 

Not half so far casts his usurped sway, 
And, wroth to see his Kingdom fail, 
Swindges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 

Everyone except the confirmed pessimist expects 
a golden age in which evil will be overthrown. It 
is a fine proof that hope springs eternal in the hu- 
man breast. It is evidence of man's faith in hu- 
manity and in the certainty that God made no 
mistake in creating this world. In the long run 
things will come out right. Men may differ in 
opinion concerning the method of securing this 
trium # ph of righteousness, but they are practically 
agreed that it will be brought to pass. This is 
the millennium in the thought of mankind in gen- 
eral. So it has been expressed in the hopes of 
the most ancient races, quite apart from any He- 
brew or Christian teaching. The followers of 
Jesus believe that the millennium will result from 
their Master's conquest of the world, and many of 
them, are convinced that already he has made 
substantial advances in a millennium which is to 
progress until it brings to human society the full 
blessedness of which poets have sung and prophets 
have dreamed. 

1. Millennial definitions and distinctions. To a 

201 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

considerable body of Christians known as millen- 
arians this broad view of the millennium is not 
acceptable. They define it as a limited period of 
time during which righteousness and peace will 
triumph over the earth. This era, in their opinion, 
will begin at a sharply drawn line and will be 
cut off at its end with equal abruptness. Some of 
them say it will come when the world has fallen 
to the lowest depths of sin and when the church 
has become wholly unable to cope with the un- 
godly world. At this crisis our Lord will return 
to the earth and swiftly destroy the enemies of 
righteousness and establish his millennial king- 
dom. As the word "millennium" means a period 
of a thousand years, millenarians usually teach 
that the age of peace and righteousness will be 
finished within that time. Some hold, however, 
that the period is indefinite, and others that it 
will continue three hundred and sixty-five thou- 
sand years, basing their belief on the declaration 
in the Scriptures that with God a thousand years 
are as a day. But whatever length the millennium 
may have, it is to cease quite as suddenly as it 
came, and will be followed by a fierce and unpar- 
alleled conflict with evil. The end of this struggle 
will be the final destruction of iniquity and the 
setting up of the kingdom of God which is to be 
eternal. In this sense the millennium is an inter- 
mediate kingdom, thrust into the bosom of the 
centuries for a little season and then suddenly 
snatched away in order that the real and lasting 
kingdom of God may supplant it. 

Those w T ho hold this view are called premillen- 
arians, because they believe that Christ will re- 
turn before the millennium, and for the purpose 
of bringing it to the world. Another class of mil- 
lenarians teach the doctrine of a literal millen- 
202 



■« 



THE MILLENNIUM 

ilium, but affirm that Christ will return after it 
has been established. Hence they are called post- 
millenarians. All distinctively millenarian ideas 
of the millennium the present writer rejects, and 
for reasons which will be stated in due course. 
Millenarianism is known to have caused great 
mischief in the past, and we believe it is doing 
much harm at the present hour. We shall show 
that it is not scriptural, if the Bible is honestly 
and intelligently interpreted. It should be set 
aside and the confusion it has created should be 
cleared away. The distinctions between premil- 
lennialism and postmillennialism will then disap- 
pear. If there is to be no millennium, in the mil- 
lenarian sense of a separated period, then it is 
folly to ask whether Christ will come before or 
after it. He will come when the church has fin- 
ished its work, and the w T orld has been made ready 
for his second advent, just as he first came in 
the fullness of time, when the world had been 
made ready for his advent by the work accom- 
plished through the Jewish Church under the 
guidance of Divine Providence. 

While the popular thought of the millennium 
as a condition of world affairs in which right- 
eousness shall be triumphant is foretold in the 
Old Testament, the millenarian idea of the mil- 
lennium is nowhere found in the Hebrew scrip- 
tures. The prophets who speak of the Messiah 
with one accord predict the day of his coming, 
and affirm that it will be followed by the triumph 
of his kingdom. They never speak of an interme- 
diate kingdom. They say nothing of a limited 
period of time in which the Messiah would sway 
his scepter and then be retired from his sover- 
eignty. His victory is to have no setback accord- 
ing to their ideas. They did not even dream of any 
203 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

second coming. It is impossible to find a single 
passage in which anything is said about the return 
of the Messiah after a period of absence. The sec- 
ond advent of Christ is a revelation made many 
centuries after the prophets had ceased speaking 
and writing. They always pictured the Messiah as 
prevailing when he should come. His kingdom 
w T as to be an everlasting kingdom. They were 
sometimes vague as to the connection of his 
earthly kingdom with the heavenly and eternal 
kingdom. For the most part they could not see 
so far as that. But in the prophecy of Daniel 
the writer seems to feel that the everlasting dura- 
tion of the Messiah's kingdom as predicted would 
carry it into the heavenly state. Indeed, the spir- 
ituality of the kingdom would appear to require 
this. But there is no hint of a temporary king- 
dom, one that is to begin flourishing and then 
give way to another, after the manner described 
by millenarians. 

Though the millenarian idea of the millennium 
nowhere appears in the inspired Scriptures of the 
Old Testament, it does come out in the uninspired 
writings of the Jews after the biblical period 
of prophecy was over. Books that were never 
admitted into the Bible do contain this idea, so 
that we know the Jews harbored it is an expecta- 
tion. Fortunately, we have some of these writ- 
ings. It is clear to anyone who examines them 
why they were kept out of the Bible. They are 
not worthy to be in it. What is called by us the 
millennium, or the time when the Messiah shall 
be triumphant, is in these books assigned to pe- 
riods varying from forty years to seven thousand 
years by different writers. If we are asked where 
these men obtained this idea which the Old Testa- 
ment does not teach, we may suggest that it prob- 
204 






THE MILLENNIUM 

ably arose from the disappointment felt by the 
Jews over what they thought was the failure of 
their prophecies to be fulfilled. Israel did not 
grow stronger but weaker as the centuries wore 
away. It did not achieve victory over the world. 
It became the football of the Gentile nations. The 
only way out of this dilemma which the Jew T could 
see was to suppose that the Messiah would come 
swiftly and unexpectedly some day when things 
were at their worst, and immediately set up his 
kingdom with Jerusalem as his capital, conquer- 
ing the w r orld nation by nation and bringing 
everything to its expected goal. That w r as the 
feeling of the Jews at the hour of Christ's advent. 
It is even held by pious Jews in our day. Un- 
fortunately, it has also been taken up by some 
devout Christians, who thus go back from the 
standpoint of Christianity to the place which 
Judaism occupied many centuries ago. This mis- 
apprehension of both Jews and Christians springs 
from the inability to see that the kingdom of the 
Messiah is a spiritual kingdom, not at all depend- 
ent on physical force. The Jews failed to realize 
that Judaism might utterly perish, and was, in- 
deed, to be extinguished, but that the kingdom of 
the Messiah would nevertheless prevail. The 
trouble with the premillenarians of our day is 
exactly the same. They are still looking for a 
physical triumph of the Messiah. They can see 
no way by which this can be gained except through 
the return of Christ to sweep away his enemies 
by force and to set up a material kingdom on the 
earth. It is a strange renewal of that Jewish no- 
tion which was most influential at the very time 
Judaism was in its darkest decline. 

While this notion of the millennium is dis- 
tinctly Jewish, it was adopted by Christians at an 
205 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

early date. Jesus said nothing about it. Paul 
and the other apostles did not mention it, and 
only at the close of the first century did it begin 
to show itself. The same reasons which led the 
later Jews to adopt the millenarian theory also 
influenced the early Christians. The Messiah had 
come, but he had not done just what the Hebrew 
seers thought he would do. What had become of 
the prophecy concerning the establishment of the 
kingdom? Jesus ascended to heayen and left the 
Jewish state still a yassal of Rome. The church 
was organized and began to develop, but it met at 
once the relentless opposition of Judaism and 
paganism. It soon looked as though it would" be 
ground to powder between these millstones. The 
earliest Christians belieyed that Jesus had prom- 
ised to come back soon, but he was delaying his 
return, for what reason they could not imagine. 
Their affairs were continually growing worse as 
time adyanced. The messages of their apostles 
were couched in terms of warning. Their conflict 
with the world would increase in seyerity. Out 
of this condition arose again the idea of a millen- 
nial kingdom, suddenly to be brought in at the 
hour when Christian hope was at its lowest. Then 
Christ would sweep away his enemies, establish 
his kingdom, which would continue for a definite 
period and then yield to something more spiritual, 
namely, a heavenly and eternal kingdom. This re- 
newal of the Jewish idea occupied some of the 
leading minds of the first two centuries. Justin 
Martyr, Irenseus, and other church fathers ac- 
cepted this doctrine. They had also the expecta- 
tion that Jesus was coming back .quickly. They 
looked for him any day. In this they were mis- 
taken, and it soon became clear that they were 
also wrong respecting the millennium. In the 
206 



THE MILLENNIUM 

fourth and fifth centuries the church fathers took 
a totally different view. This is the period when 
the greatest writers of early Christianity ap- 
peared, and they were anti-millenarians. Much 
has been made of the fact that the first Christian 
fathers were premillenarians, but this is no proof 
that the doctrine is true, and ignores the fact that 
the greatest of the church fathers in the following 
centuries repudiated the teaching. Names of con- 
siderable importance in our. day are attached to 
millenarianism, but they do not guarantee its re- 
liability. It is impossible to think of any theory 
so grotesque and irrational that it has not se- 
cured the adherence of men of culture. Of this 
we have abundant proof in the history of strange 
and perverse doctrines. Scientists, philosophers, 
judges, statesmen, administrators of great affairs, 
have recklessly tied themselves to theories which 
are held in contempt by the majority of sane per- 
sons. A doctrine is true, not because somebody 
believes it, but because it is founded on the in- 
spired Scriptures. 

2. The millennium and the Apocalypse of John. 
The chief reason for the acceptance of the millen- 
arian theory by many persons is that we have one 
brief passage in a New Testament book which 
seems to lend support to the doctrine. A few 
sentences in the twentieth chapter of the Apoc- 
alypse of John — commonly called the book of Rev- 
elation — furnish the core and substance of the 
millenarian doctrine. Without this solitary pas- 
sage from the most symbolical of all the books of 
the Bible, there would not be even a seeming basis 
in Scripture for such a theory. When the true 
nature of the Apocalypse of John is understood 
this slight foundation disappears. If the student 
will read that book for spiritual profit, he will 
207 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

find it rich with divine encouragements ; but if he 
reads it for the purpose of seeing how cleverly he 
can make out its rhetorical figures he might as 
well study an almanac or the chess problems 
which are sometimes printed in our newspapers, 
so far as getting any religious benefit is concerned. 
Furthermore, if he will read the book in the large 
and free way in which it was composed, his spir- 
itual imagination will be quickened, his faith will 
rise on tireless wings, and his hope in Christ will 
be greatly enlarged ; but if he puts a microscope 
down upon every symbolism, closely examining 
every line, sentence, word, and syllable with the 
determination to get at its supposed hidden mean- 
ing, he will find the book dry and juiceless. His 
head will become weary .with useless gymnastics, 
and his heart will receive no spiritual refresh- 
ment. It is a pity beyond measure that .the 
Apocalypse of John should be so misused. Its 
evident purpose is to forecast the glorious triumph 
of Christ, which involves the victory of his saints 
and the overthrow of his enemies. Christ is pic- 
tured as a conqueror, not as the suffering Saviour. 
The Gospels and Epistles emphasize the sacrifice 
of Christ. The Apocalypse of John brings into 
bold relief the triumph of our Lord. The book 
is in the Bible to encourage despondent saints and 
to exhort all believers to remain faithful in spite 
of every possible adversity. 

The pictures and symbols are incidental to this 
theme. To spend one's energy in figuring out the 
supposed meaning of each line is like talking 
about the technicalities of a song and never lis- 
tening to its music. This is not to say that the 
symbols did not have a definite meaning in the 
mind of the man who used them and of the per- 
sons for whom he wrote. The first readers of the 
208 



THE MILLENNIUM 

Apocalypse must have understood the aim of 
John's symbolisms and recognized the things for 
which they stood. But no published interpreta- 
tion followed. It was not necessary for that gen- 
eration. There is no requirement that we should 
understand the application of all these types and 
shadows. No objection can be made to scholars 
working over the matter if they desire. It does 
no harm as a mental exercise, but there is no 
great spiritual value in it. If we knew to a cer- 
tainty the precise meaning of every symbolism in 
the book we might still fail of obtaining anything 
therefrom to nourish our souls. 

Now, it happens that we know how John com- 
posed his Apocalypse. This fact does not impair 
the claim of the book to special inspiration or its 
right to belong to the Bible. Nor does the fact 
that it is a work of the imagination injure its 
position in the sacred volume. Jesus used his im- 
agination in framing parables. He took the com- 
mon facts of life and used them for illustrations of 
spiritual truth. So John took materials which 
w r ere at hand and worked them into his marvelous 
book. It is not an independent production. Few 
works of genius are. Its author found his symbol- 
isms in various places. First, he chose from the 
old prophets. "It may be doubted," says Dr. Mil- 
ligan of the Revelation, "whether it contains a 
single figure not drawn from the Old Testament 
or a single complete sentence not more or less 
built up from materials brought from the same 
source." 1 If the reader will take any good ref- 
erence Bible and look at the Scripture citations 
in the parallel columns alongside the text of the 
book of Revelation, he will find that from Ezekiel, 

J The Revelation of St. John, by William Milligan, 
D.D., p. 72. 

209 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and others the sugges- 
tions of John's symbols were obtained. Having 
adopted these figures, he makes them over to suit 
his own purpose. 

Another source of John's materials was popular 
tradition. He was acquainted with the millennial 
theories of the Jews who preceded him or were 
living in his day, as expressed in the uninspired 
apocalyptic writings to which we have referred. 
Naturally he would use these conventional ideas 
if they served his purpose just as any writer 
might do, and just as Jesus himself did with cer- 
tain commonly received oxnnions in his addresses. 
This did not commit John, as it had not committed 
Jesus, to a fixed belief in these conceptions. 
Again, the events of his age, the abominations of 
the Roman empire, everything most prominent in 
the life of his times, became grist for John's mill. 
For the clothing of his ideas he used materials 
at hand, and he used them in such a way that he 
produced the most wonderful series of symbolical 
pictures the imagination of man has ever set forth. 
That is what the inspiration of God did for him. 
If we see in the whole drama he j)i*esents the 
working out in many forms of one great idea, we 
have the key to the book. The triumph of Christ, 
insuring the victory of his church and involving 
his second advent, is the great teaching of the 
book. The pictures and symbols provide a con- 
venient and convincing way of expressing this 
great theme. These illustrations had a local and 
temporary meaning. Their immediate signifi- 
cance perished with the flight of time, but the un- 
derlying truth of these symbols endures forever. 

3. The alleged millennial foundation. We are 
now prepared to examine the passage on which 
the millenarian doctrine is incorrectly based, and 
210 



THE MILLENNIUM 

without which it would not have even a theoreti- 
cal basis in Scripture: 

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, 
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
chain in his hand. 

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old ser- 
pent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound 
him a thousand years, 

And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut 
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should 
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand 
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must 
be loosed a little season. 

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 
and judgment was given unto them: and I saw 
the souls of them 'that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and 
which had not worshiped the beast, neither his 
image, neither had received his mark upon their 
foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and 
reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

But the rest of the dead lived not again until 
the thousand years were finished. This is the 
first resurrection. 

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
first resurrection: on such the second death 
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God 
and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thou- 
sand years. 

And when the thousand years are expired, 
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. 

And shall go out to deceive the nations which 
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and 
Magog, to gather them together to battle: the 
number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

And they went up on the breadth of the 
earth, and compassed the camp of the saints 
about, and the beloved city: and fire came down 
from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 

And the devil that deceived them was cast 
into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the 
beast and the false prophet are, and shall be 
tormented day and night for ever and ever. 2 



2 Reveiation 20. 1-10. 

211 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

The rnillenariaus insist that this passage must 
be taken literally. In this demand they are in- 
consistent, since they interpret the bulk of the 
Apocalypse symbolically. It suits their purpose 
to treat this particular section differently. Yet 
it is inserted between two passages which no one 
has ever proposed to treat as literal forecasts. 
In the nineteenth chapter we have a picture of 
Christ riding in triumph as a military conqueror 
glorying in the defeat and destruction of his ene- 
mies. Xo one claims this to be a story of an 
actual event. In the twenty-first chapter we have 
a description of the new Jerusalem coming down 
out of the heavens. Its walls, its gates, its streets 
and its measurements are given in detail, but no 
one probably ever thought this description to be a 
kind of guide book of the celestial city. Yet right 
between these two chapters is inserted in the twen- 
tieth chapter a picture of Satan bound and thrown 
into an abyss for a thousand years, and the rnil- 
lenariaus claim that this is to be an actual event 
in history in the exact terms used here to describe 
it. This is surely an inconsistent handling of a 
book which in its entirety is distinctly symbolical. 

Furthermore, the most essential parts of the 
millenarian scheme cannot be reconciled with a 
literal interpretation of this passage. According 
to that program, the millennium is to be started 
with the return of Christ to the earth. But not 
a syllable about the second coming of our Lord 
appears in this passage. An angel is represented 
as coming down from heaven. He has the key of 
the bottomless pit, and a great chain is in his 
hand with which to bind Satan. To be consistent 
the literalists must hold that the key and the 
chain are the veritable articles so named. They 
cannot be considered figurative in the slightest de- 
212 



THE MILLENNIUM 

gree. The same is true of the binding and the im- 
prisonment of Satan. The whole process contains 
no reference to Christ. It will not help the case 
of the literalists to say the angel means Christ, 
or at least is Christ's deputy. Literal interpreta- 
tion requires the admission that, in this episode 
with which the millennium is opened, no mention 
is made of the second coming of our Lord. The 
most explicit description of Christ's return is 
from the pen of Saint Paul, who says 

For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first: 

Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever 
be with the Lord. 3 i 

This is not the event predicted in Eevelation 20 ? 
as anyone can see who compares the two passages. 
There is nothing in Paul's forecast which bears 
the slightest resemblance to the beginning of a 
millennium, and there is nothing in John's vision 
which even faintly suggests the return of Christ. 
According to the millenarian idea of the millen- 
nium, earthly society is to be continued much 
after the manner of the present, except that 
Christ and his saints will reign, and all iniquity 
and discord will have disappeared. But in John's 
vision only the souls of the saints without bodies 
are seen living and reigning with Christ for a 
thousand years. Yet not all of these are included. 
Only the martyrs are admitted to seats of judg- 
ment and power. 4 This is contrary to the millen- 
arian doctrine which claims that all the dead 



3 1 Thessalonians 4. 16, 17. 
4 Revelation 20. 4. 

213 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

saints are to be resurrected, and with the living 
saints are to reign with Christ in bodily presence. 
But this passage on which millenarians depend 
does not so teach. All it affirms is that the souls 
of the martyrs will be reigning with Christ for a 
thousand years. It does not say these saints will 
be reigning on the earth. Perhaps this is what 
John believed would be the case, but he does not 
explicitly declare it. It would be as natural to 
suppose he meant they would be reigning with 
Christ in heaven, particularly as he does not men- 
tion the coming of Christ to the earth. The whole 
picture looks more like the going of the saints 
to be with Christ than the coming of Christ to be 
with his saints. 

What seems wholly fatal to the millenarian 
scheme, if this passage literally interpreted be 
taken as its foundation, is the disagreement of 
this prediction with the teachings of Jesus about 
the resurrection. In John's vision there are two 
resurrections, one of the martyred saints at the 
opening of the thousand years, and the other of 
"the rest of the dead/' after that period. But 
Jesus plainly taught that there would be but one 
resurrection for all mankind, and that this would 
be at the end of the age, accompanied by the final 
judgment of the world. The following passages 
are sufficient examples of our Lord's teaching on 
this subject: 

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, 
in the which all that are in the graves shall hear 
his voice, 

And shall come forth; they that have done 
good, unto the resurrection of life; and they 
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 
damnation. 5 



5 John 5. 28 5 29. 

214 



THE MILLENNIUM 

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory: 

And before him shall be gathered all nations: 
and he shall separate them one from another, as 
a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, 
but the goats on the left. 6 

It is the plain meaning of these passages that the 
resurrection and judgment of all men will occur 
at the second coming of Christ. If we were forced 
to choose between Jesus and John for an authority 
on this matter, there could be no hesitation. But 
no dilemma of this kind is offered. Jesus spoke 
of an event which involves the whole race of men. 
John's picture has no such range, as will presently 
be shown. In this connection it should be noted 
that Paul's teaching conforms to that of Christ. 

Therefore judge nothing before the time, un- 
til the Lord come, who both will bring to light 
the hidden things of darkness, and will make 
manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then 
shall every man have praise of God. 7 

For we must all appear before the judgment 
seat of Christ; that every one may receive the 
things done in his body, according to that he 
hath done, whether it be good or bad. 8 

Even John's Apocalypse supports the same view. 
Immediately following the millennial passage we 
are considering we read, 

And I saw a great white throne, and him that 
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
heaven fled away; and there was found no place 
for them. 

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God; and the books were opened: and 



6 Matthew 25. 31-33. 
7 1 Corinthians 4. 5. 
8 2 Corinthians 5. 10. 



215 



THE RETURN OF THE EEDEEMER 

another book was opened, which is the book of 
life: and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, accord- 
ing to their works. 

And the sea gave up the dead which were in 
it; and death and hell delivered up the dead 
which were in them: and they were judged 
every man according to their works. 

And death and hell were cast into the lake 
of fire. This is the second death. 

And whosoever was not found written in the 
book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 9 

What finer forecast of the final Judgment could 
be imagined? All the dead are brought forth, 
and upon all judgment is pronounced. Two res- 
urrections and two judgments separated by a 
thousand years cannot be made to harmonize with 
the teachings of Christ and his apostles. What, 
then, could John have intended by this puzzling 
vision ? 

4. The millennium in John's terms. The details 
of this picture are original with the author, but its 
outlines were probably drawn from sources with 
which we are acquainted. In the prophecy of Eze- 
kiel, chapters 34-37, we have the forecast of a pe- 
riod of peace and prosperity to follow the defeat 
of Israel's enemies. In the next two chapters 
there appears a graphic account of a huge conflict 
w T ith Gog and Magog, resulting in the final over- 
throw of the forces opposed to Jehovah. Were 
these predictions intended to cover events occur- 
ring in the order in wiiich they are here recorded? 
Or are they separate pictures, having no relation 
of sequence? It is impossible to say with cer- 
tainty. But on the surface they faintly suggest 
an interval of happiness followed by a final de- 



9 Revelation 20. 11-15. . 

216 



THE MILLENNIUM 

struction of Jehovah's foes. Perhaps from this 
prophecy John took the hint for his symbolism 
of a thousand years, to be opened by the binding 
of Satan, and to be closed by the loosing of the 
archfiend for everlasting defeat. 

No intimation of such an interval between two 
overthrows of God's enemies is found elsewhere in 
the Old Testament. It is an idea, however, which 
was put forward by those writers who appeared 
later than Ezekiel and earlier than John, to whom 
we have referred, and whose writings obtained no 
place in the Bible. In 2 Esdras, for example, it 
is declared that in the fullness of time the Mes- 
siah will come, and the saints will rejoice in his 
fellowship four hundred years, after w^hich he w r ill 
disappear and the world will become silent in 
death for a season. Then the dead will be raised, 
the Most High will sit upon his judgment throne, 
and mankind will be assigned to the rewards and 
punishments which await the good and the bad. 
In the Apocalypse of Baruch a similar descrip- 
tion occurs. In the Book of Enoch the interval 
of a thousand years is suggested. This number is 
also mentioned in the Talmud. 

While the imprisonment and release of Satan 
at the beginning and end of an interval of blessed- 
ness are not found in these later Jewish writings, 
the placing of chains upon evil angels till their 
final punishment is described in certain Hebrew 
books, and may well have given John the notion 
of Satan's binding. The same idea is found in 
2 Peter 2. 4, and Jude 6. Furthermore, beyond 
the pale of Jewish and Christian literature this 
doctrine of the restraint and final overthrow of 
the devil had expression. In the teaching of the 
ancient Persians the dragon, which embodies the 
supreme spirit of evil, is confined for a certain pe- 
217 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

riod, but afterward is released and destroyed. 
Thus several centuries before the Christian era, 
among both Jews and alien peoples, the idea w r as 
held which John has so deftly used. This teach- 
ing was commonly received by the N generation to 
which John addressed his Apocalypse. He used 
the traditional views not for the purpose of in- 
dorsing them, but as a convenient vehicle for the 
cheering truth that the devil is certain to lose his 
fight against the forces of righteousness. 

John's whole thought in this particular episode 
is upon the martyrs whose number was daily be- 
ing increased. Some of the first Christians to 
read his lines would soon be summoned to execu- 
tion. Let them keep the faith and hold cour- 
ageously on their way. A reward of inestimable 
value awaited them. Those who died for Christ's 
sake would reign with him. Long before the gen- 
eral resurrection they w T ould come forth to sit on 
thrones with their Lord. The intermediate king- 
dom of John's inspired fancy, which has come to 
be called the millennium, was for the martyrs 
alone. He probably had no other persons in 
mind. 

Did the author expect that the risen martyrs 
would speedily enter upon their exalted experience 
with Christ? Very likely he did. If he thought 
these saints were to reign on the earth, history 
has not justified the expectation. But they have 
been reigning w r ith Christ in the heavenly state 
ever since they sealed their testimony with their 
death. Thus ideally this prediction has been ful- 
filled whatever be our method of interpreting it. 
And if, as is allowable though not capable of 
proof, John meant that they were to reign with 
Christ in glory rather than on the earth, then 
the prediction has been literally fulfilled. 
218 



THE MILLENNIUM 

Against these saints, of course, Satan is power- 
less. He is bound. He cannot go forth to de- 
ceive the nations into supposing they can harm 
the redeemed of the Lord. What John says about 
the martyrs is equally true of all who 
have been faithful to Christ even unto death. 
They are reigning with Christ. From a single 
class of saints we may properly extend our 
thought to all the blessed dead who died in the 
Lord. The actual lines of John's picture as he 
drew them may inclose only the martyrs of his 
own era, but in the light of the Christian gospel 
the vision is broadened to include the saints of 
all ages. 

But there stands a sixfold use of the phrase 
"a thousand years." What are we to do with 
that ? In the process of describing in the preced- 
ing chapter the triumph of Christ the author 
comes to the vision of Satan being bound by an 
angel. Is that to be taken literally? Are w r e 
to think of a messenger from heaven with a chain 
of steel, wrapping it around the form of the devil 
and then hurling him into an actual dungeon, 
the walls of which are too thick for him to pene- 
trate? ^uch literalism is beyond reason. The 
same is true with regard to the thousand years. 
We have seen how the time interval was suggested 
by previous writers. But when it passes into the 
hands of John, it is no longer a phrase of exact 
measurement, but the symbol of a triumph in 
wiiich duration plays no part. Numbers every- 
where else in the book of Kevelation are used fig- 
uratively, and no exception should be looked for 
in this passage. The symbolism of a thousand 
years was understood by the first readers of this 
Apocalypse, just as also the figurative meaning of 
forty-two months, twelve hundred and sixty days, 
219 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

and other numerical forms was comprehended by 
them. To us they have no precise meaning, 
though we may make guesses at their significance 
of greater or less cleverness. 10 

The literal interpretation demanded by the pre- 
millennialists does not honor Christ. If we take 
this passage literally and dove-tail it for premil- 
lennial purposes into 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-15, and 
1 Corinthians 15. 23-25, we virtually say that 
Christ's second coming will be more of a failure 
than premillennialists think his first coming was. 
They claim that at his second advent he will do 
what evidently was impossible at his first coming. 
But if we interpret literally Revelation 20, he will 
succeed no better the second time. It is true that 
for a thousand years he is represented as reign- 
ing, but this kingdom is to be cut off. Satan and 
a countless host of sinners, the most rebellious in 
history, are to arise and thwart the purposes of 
his kingdom, requiring a new and final conflict. 
Such an abortive millennium we cannot accept. 
It is not only contrary to the Scriptures, but it 
is a travesty on Christ's glory. 

Why should anyone insist on a literal interpre- 
tation of this passage? The answer probably is 
that it is always easier to take a passage literally 
than in any other way. It saves the necessity of 
study. It requires no hard work. It is the refuge 
of the indolent mind. When a passage taken liter- 
ally contradicts another passage taken literally, 
a simple way out of the difficulty is to say that the 
disagreement of the two passages could be ad- 
justed if we only knew all the facts, and to coni- 



:r The Revelation of St. John, William Milligan, pp. 
193, 232; When Christ Comes Again, by George P. Eck- 
man, pp. 225-229. 

220 



THE MILLENNIUM 

fort the mind that will not work by saying that 
God in his own good time will make the mystery 
plain. That sounds very pious, but it is really 
cowardly. Our business is to find out wiiat the 
passage means. If it is figurative, it is presump- 
tion to say that it must be taken literally. That 
is the situation here. The passage we have been 
considering is symbolical. It stands in the very 
heart of other passages plainly figurative. It is 
part of the long description of Christ's triumph 
over the devil and his hosts. John sees the mar- 
tyred saints. To be strictly accurate, he sees the 
souls of these saints. They are not dead, not 
snuffed out, but reigning. Thus they are surviv- 
ing in triumph. Now, as a symbolical picture 
that is very fine, but it cannot be either a history 
of what has happened or a forecast of things yet 
to happen. It is a pictorial exhibition of a sub- 
lime reality — Christ has triumphed and hell is 
defeated. 

Let us take an illustration of what John was 
doing in this Apocalypse from the events of our 
time. When the world war broke out there were 
men who felt it could have but one result. God 
could not allow the brutal autocracy of the Cen- 
tral Powers to win without changing his charac- 
ter. Such men talked of the war as if it were 
already finished. They never wavered in their 
expectation of the triumph of righteousness. As 
time passed the Allies were again and again ap- 
parently very near destruction, but these men did 
not doubt in the most frightful crises. When the 
struggle looked the most unhopeful they were sure 
that the defenders of democracy would succeed. 
Now, that is precisely the attitude of John. When 
he wrote the book of Revelation the followers of 
Christ were being persecuted remorselessly. The 
221 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Roman empire was seeking to exterminate the 
Christian faith. John's conviction was that Chris- 
tianity could not be overthrown, no matter how 
helpless its adherents might appear. Therefore 
he looked on the contest as already gained. To 
his mind the devil was not to be whipped, but 
already was overthrown. That is what faith does. 
It enables the Christian to fully realize the things 
that are yet to be as if they were already in ex- 
istence. 

The dream of a world at peace because right 
has triumphed over wrong is deathless. It has 
passed through the minds of illuminated pagans. 
The ideal state of Plato, of Sir Thomas Moore, of 
scores of other visionaries has been baptized in the 
name of Christ. It is not a mockery. We cannot 
laugh it away. It will come, but never through 
violence. It is at this point that the premillen- 
nialist departs from the very spirit of Chris- 
tianity. He virtually says that, in a kind of exas- 
peration, after centuries of trial and failure to 
establish his kingdom through spiritual agencies, 
Christ will suddenly return and almost imme- 
diately accomplish by physical force what could 
not otherwise be achieved. The ideal state which 
is to absorb all states will be pushed down upon 
the world to master it and thus to fulfill all that 
has been predicted. Bloodshed will be required to 
secure it, but with Jerusalem as the capital of the 
world, nations will lie at the feet of the Christ of 
Palestine. But fatality of fatalities, it will not 
last! A thousand years go by and suddenly the 
w r hole earth is plunged into war again, which is 
precisely what one might expect of a kingdom 
founded upon force. Such an abortive millen- 
nium we reject as neither reasonable nor scrip- 
tural. 

222 



THE MILLENNIUM 

Upon the initial stages of the real millennium 
we have already entered, and the era only will 
end with the consummation of the age. Christ 
came as the ancient seers predicted, and began 
at once the long process of delivering the world 
from the thraldom of sin. The Messianic proph- 
ecies are not held back for future fulfillment. 
They are in process of realization at this very 
hour. The triumph of the Messianic kingdom is 
advancing, as the missionary successes of our day 
multiply with astonishing rapidity. Even the 
ideal conditions of living of which the prophets 
dreamed are being approached under the benign 
influence of a Christian civilization. Nature is 
being tamed, the forces of the physical world are 
being brought under control for man's benefit, the 
age-long hostility between man and the lower or- 
ders of creation is being reduced, social order in 
civilized lands is undergoing constant improve- 
ment, the spirit of brotherhood is extending 
through the world, the Church of Christ is striv- 
ing to heal its divisions, and the blessed w r ork of 
the kingdom is being furthered by gifts of money 
and dedications to life service surpassing any- 
thing witnessed since the days of the apostles. 
If the signs of the times are reliable, what lies 
ahead is a sure and steady progress in the direc- 
tion tow r ard which Christ turned the stream of 
history when he entered the world as the promised 
Deliverer of mankind. 

What, then, are the conclusions reached respect- 
ing the millennium? 

1. That the millennium as a state of righteous- 
ness and peace prevailing over the whole earth' 
will indeed some day be realized. 

2. That it w r ill be the result of the long process 
during which Christ by his spiritual presence in 

223 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

the world has been redeeming humanity to him- 
self through the activity of his church. 

3. That when it arrives it will remain until it 
passes into the heavenly or eternal state. 

4. That it is not, therefore, an intermediate 
kingdom of a thousand years more or less, but a 
kingdom of finality which began ages ago, and will 
be perfected at the coming of the Lord. 

5. That Christ will not return before it is estab- 
lished (premillennial), nor after it has been com- 
pleted (postmillennial), but will visualize himself 
once more in it (Messianic). 

6. That, in the narrow sense of the literalist, 
there is, therefore, to be no such thing as the mil- 
lennium, a segregated portion of history to end 
suddenly in the fiercest catastrophe the world has 
ever known. 

The millennium is not a definite stretch of time 
thrust into the web of history, a hiatus in the 
movement of the centuries, an oasis in the desert 
of human wickedness, a patch of glory in the 
fabric of dull iniquity, a gleam of light to be suf- 
focated by darkness. /That is not what the 
prophets were looking for. They foresaw a climax 
without an eclipse. Think of a perfect period of 
a thousand years of peace followed by a hell on 
earth. That is the Garden of Eden story over 
again, with an expulsion which has. no hope to re- 
lieve its terrors, a tragedy of incredible frightful- 
ness. 

The sum of all is this : Christ is coming at 
the end of the age to judge the world. There is 
nothing in the Gospels to indicate an earlier re- 
turn in advance of something called the millen- 
nium. He is coming not to set up a kingdom and 
suddenly achieve victory over the world. He is 
coming, as he said to his disciples, to "receive you 

224 



THE MILLENNIUM 

unto myself; that where I am there ye may be 
also." 11 He is coming to take over the kingdom 
which he long ago established in the earth and 
to deliver it up a finished product to God and his 
Father. 12 



11 John 14. 3. 

12 1 Corinthians 15. 24. 



225 



CHAPTER XIII 
ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

And they overcame- him by the blood of the 
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and 
they loved not their lives unto the death. — 
Revelation 12. 11. 

Admiral Lord Fisher,, of the British navy, in 
his "Records" compares the sudden termination of 
the recent world-war to the destruction of Sen- 
nacherib's army, 1 and says : "There was no Water- 
loo, no Sedan, no Trafalgar — though there could 
have been one on October 21st, 1918, for the Ger- 
man naval meeting was know T n. . . . There was 
no Napoleon, no Nelson. But 'the angel of the 
Lord went forth.' " It is the faith of Christendom 
that in due time all wars shall "cease unto the 
end of the earth," 2 and that this result shall be 
brought about by divine power. "Not by might, 
nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of 
hosts." 3 Not by military force, nor by political 
power, but by spiritual energy shall righteous- 
ness prevail in the earth. 

The greatest war in history is over. It involved 
more nations, wasted more treasure, murdered 
more people, and filled the earth with more an- 
guish than any previous w T ar. It no sooner began 
than prophecy-mongers with more imagination 
than wisdom commenced to apply the prophetic 
scriptures to the terrible outbreak. They said it 

a Isaiah 37. 36. 
2 Psalm 46. 9. 
sZechariah 4. 6. 

226 



AKMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

was the final war of history and that it fore- 
tokened the end of the age. They even predicted 
by means of x>assages from the book of Daniel and 
the Apocalypse of John the date on which it would 
be finished. Some said it would end in three and 
a half years, which would bring it to February 
1, 1918. Later the j)eriod was extended to seven 
years, which would carry it over to 1921. A book 
was published declaring that peace would come 
in 1932. But in 1918 the war collapsed. It re- 
minds one of the Eoman priests who wrote a book 
to prove that the world would come to an end in 
1830. So much time was required to get it 
through the hands of the Papal Censor that the 
book was not published until 1831, one year af- 
ter the date announced for the catastrophe. 

Peace terms having been settled, and the arms 
of belligerents having been stacked, is there any 
guarantee of perpetual peace? The League of 
Nations is an experiment in that direction. To 
whatever extent it may succeed, the human heart 
will still hold the possibility of stirring up war- 
fare. Many persons did not think the recent war 
could occur. Nevertheless it came, and with 
more frightful consequences than anyone .foresaw. 
Yet there must come a time when peace and 
righteousness shall triumph and when wars shall 
no longer vex the world. The poets have dreamed 
of this era, the prophets have predicted it, the 
Bible promises it, universal humanity expects it. 
However gradually that point may be reached, 
there will be a moment when the balance of power 
will pass from iniquity to righteousness, just as 
there is a point in the year, though it may not be 
marked by visible boundaries, when we pass out 
of winter into spring and out of summer into 
autumn. The seers who have foretold this event 
227 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

have usually included in their visions a decisive 
battle between right and wrong to settle forever 
the supremacy of righteousness. This idea is 
taken up by certain writers in the Bible by whom 
it is presented in various pictures. 

1. The origin of Armageddon. In the prophecy of 
Ezekiel 4 we find the earliest intimation of a final 
struggle between the forces of the Lord and the 
world-powers opposed to him. There we are in- 
troduced to "Gog of the land of Magog" in wdioni 
is vested the leadership of the hosts of iniquity. 
Some scholars identify Gog as the Lydian mon- 
arch Gyges, and make a kingdom in the region 
of the Black and Caspian Seas stand for the land 
of Magog. Others give a different signification 
to these terms. The question is of no great im- 
portance, since the aim of the prophet is not to 
w^ite history in advance, but to express in a fig- 
urative way his conviction that a last conflict 
will occur between the enemies of Jehovah and 
the hosts at his command. A threatened inva- 
sion of Palestine by northern tribes of aliens pro- 
vides the historical basis for this picture of his 
inspired imagination. Jehovah is described as 
utterly destroying his foes, and the Messianic era 
of righteousness and peace begins, never again to 
be disturbed by the assaults of iniquity. 

In the Apocalypse of John this idea of a last 
overthrow of the world-powers which oppose the 
kingdom of God is used by the writer with even 
greater effectiveness. It is very plain that he has 
studied the prophecy of Ezekiel with deep inter- 
est. He employs some of the same rhetorical 
figures, though he passes them through the cruci- 
ble of his own genius, thus giving them the stamp 



'Chapters 38 and 39. 

228 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

of originality. Three passages from his pen are 
held to refer to the final conflict in which Christ 
will annihilate his enemies. They differ in exter- 
nal features, but they have the same inner mean- 
ing. Let us group them together for convenience 
of comparison : 

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs 
come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of 
the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of 
the false prophet. 

For they are the spirits of devils, working 
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the 
earth and of the whole world, to gather them to 
the battle df that great- day of God Almighty. 

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he 
walk naked, and they see his shame. 

And he gathered them together into a place 
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. 5 

This is the only place in the Bible where the 
word "Armageddon" is found. It is a compound 
word, more accurately written Har-Magedon, 
meaning the Mount of Megiddo. In Judges 5. 
19, we have "the waters of Megiddo." In 2 Kings 
23. 29, we find Megiddo as the place where King 
Josiah was slain. The same event is recorded in 
2 Chronicles 35. 22-24. In Zechariah 12. 11 we 
have "the valley of Megiddon." In these different 
forms we have reference to what was and is a 
famous battlefield. Megiddon was on the edge 
of the valley of Esdraelon, famous for the fight 
between Barak and Sisera, for many battles with 
the Egyptian monarchs, for conflicts with the 
kings of the Assyrians, for battles of the crusa- 
ders, for the presence of Napoleon Bonaparte and 
his forces, and, last of all, for the invasion of the 
British troops in 1918, when the Turk was for- 

°Revelation 16. 13-16. 

229 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ever driven from Palestine. John sees in this 
locality, which already in his day had become cele- 
brated in the annals of war, the best place for the 
gathering of the kings unto the war of the great 
day of God, the Almighty. It is interesting to 
note that this great struggle which Old Testament 
prophets as well as New Testament seers have 
used is described as occurring at other places. 
For example, in Zechariah 14. 4, 5 it happens at 
the mount of Olives. In Joel 3. 12 it occurs in 
the valley of Jehoshaphat. Thus at three different 
localities, including that of Megiddo, the same 
event is described as taking place. Therefore the 
event itself is not to be taken as a literal battle 
of a military type. It is symbolical of a great 
spiritual conflict resulting in the overthrow of 
wickedness. The phrase, "called in the Hebrew 
tongue Armageddon" clearly show T s that the term 
is figuratively used. 

The second passage referring to this event 
ought to be read in full 6 in order to have the 
picture in detail before the mind, though we 
here insert only the concluding portion which de- 
scribes the triumph and its consequences. 

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the 
earth, and their armies, gathered together to 
make war against him that sat on the horse, and 
against his army. 

And the beast was taken, and with him the 
false prophet that wrought miracles before him, 
with which he deceived them that had received 
the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped 
his image. These both were cast alive into a 
lake of fire burning with brimstone. 

And the remnant were slain with the sword 
of him that sat upon the horse, which sword 
proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls 
were filled with their flesh. 



6 Revelation 19. 19-21. 

230 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 



Some persons have insisted that this passage de- 
scribes the second coming of Christ to introduce 
the millennium. This cannot be the case, for 
Paul has given a totally different account of the- 
manner of that advent/ and his lines are in ac- 
cord with all that Jesus said about the fashion of 
his entry into the world to judge the nations. 8 

John's last picture of the determining fight with 
Satan and his vast armies is the most impressive 
of all, though it is comprehended in a few lines. 

And when the thousand years are expired, 
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. 

And shall go out to deceive the nations which 
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and 
Magog, to gather them together to battle: the 
number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, 
and compassed the camp of the, saints about, and 
the beloved city: and fire came down from God 
out of heaven, and devoured them. 

And the devil that deceived them was cast 
• into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the 
beast and the false prophet are, and shall be 
tormented day and night for ever and ever. 9 

If these several visions do indeed refer to the 
same colossal event at the end of history, then the 
question as to the meaning of Armageddon is 
quite simple, particularly if EzekiePs prophecy is 
taken as the inspiring cause of John's pictures. 
But this explanation is not satisfactory to those 
who call themselves premillennialists. They vir- 
tually demand two Armageddons, one before and 
the other after the millennium. They contend that 
Ezekiel describes the former and John the latter, 
though as we have seen they give a different in- 
terpretation to Revelation 19. 11-21, and in some 

7 1 Thessalonians 4. 15-17. 
8 Matthew 25. 31-33. 
9 Revelation 20. 7-10. 

231 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

• 

Instances make Revelation 16. 16 correspond with 
the vision in Ezekiel. But of the significance of 
Revelation 20. 7-10 they have no doubt. That 
Armageddon follows the millennium. They call 
attention to the fact that the invasion in Ezekiel 
comes from the north, while in the book of Revela- 
tion it proceeds from the four quarters of the 
earth. They show that while the enemies of God 
according to Ezekiel fall on the mountains of Is- 
rael, in the book of Revelation they are described 
as being devoured by fire. Consequently, they 
claim in effect two Armageddons. In Ezekiel we 
have the fight which will happen Just before 
Christ's second coming to establish the millen- 
nium. In the book of Revelation we have the 
struggle which will occur after the millennium 
has broken up. They even go so far as to show 
that the resemblance of names indicates the em- 
pire and ruler of Russia, and hold that out of the 
chaos of this northern power there will come at 
last a concentration of the enemies of Jehovah 
in Palestine for the great struggle before the mil- 
lennium. Then a thousand years will pass and 
Gog and Magog will be assembled again for the 
actual end, when the devil and his angels will be 
everlastingly overthrown. With this mechanical 
distribution of events we are entirely out of sym- 
pathy, having already shown that the theory of a 
segregated portion of time called the millennium 
must be discarded. 

2. Interpretations of Armageddon. Many premil- 
lennialists hailed the recent war as the beginning 
of the Armageddon. Some tempered their an- 
nouncement by saying the conflict might later 
merge into Armageddon. As the war in a cer- 
tain sense cannot yet be declared at an end, since 
several of its complications remain unsettled, 
232 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

some preinillennialists still hold that the first 
Armageddon is in process of development at the 
present hour. This position is unfortunate for 
the program they have invented for Christ and 
themselves. According to their view, "the great 
tribulation" must occur before the millennium, 
and perhaps in conjunction with or subsequent 
to Armageddon. The passages of Scripture on 
which they build this doctrine are the following: 

Alas! for that day is great, so that none is 
like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; 
but he shall be saved out of it. 10 

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the 
great prince which standeth for the children of 
thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble 
such as never was since there was a nation even 
to that same time: and at that time thy people 
shall be delivered, every one that shall be 
found written in the book. 11 

For then shall be great tribulation, such as 
was not since the beginning of the world to 
this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

And except those days should be shortened, 
there should no flesh be saved: but for the 
elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 12 

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And 
he said to me, These are they which came out 
of great tribulation, and have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb. 13 

A reading of these passages with an understand- 
ing of the circumstances under which they were 
written will show what unwarranted applications 
of their language preinillennialists have rashly 
made. For our present purpose, however, they 

10 Jeremiah 30. 7. Compare Zephaniah 1. 15-18. 
"Daniel 12. 1. 

12 Matthew 24. 21, 22. Compare Mark 13, 19, 20. 
"Revelation 7. 14. 

233 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

may be allowed to stand. In that case "the great 
tribulation' 7 which they describe cannot be iden- 
tified with the present war and its consequences. 
While we have undoubtedly passed through what 
was perhaps the most horrible experience of man- 
kind, it did not affect in any dreadful way millions 
of earth's inhabitants, many of whom were not 
even aware it was being fought. Setting aside 
these remote and barbarous peoples, it could not 
be said, for example, that the United States of 
America experienced anything disastrous. A few 
thousand persons lost their lives in the war, but 
many more perished from disease which had 
nothing to do with the war itself and did not 
mark the prevalence of a world-wide "tribula- 
tion.'' 

Furthermore, premiliennialists claim that dur- 
ing the period of "the tribulation" the living 
saints, together with the sleeping saints who have 
been resurrected, are to be taken away with their 
Lord into the air and, while he is teaching them 
the things essential for their future work, "the 
tribulation" is occurring on the earth and will 
continue until the Antichrist is destroyed at the 
revelation of the Lord. Now, the war and all its 
attendant evils through which we have passed 
cannot be u the great tribulation," for "the rap- 
ture" of the saints has not taken place. The liv- 
ing saints are still with us and the sleeping saints 
have not been resurrected. If u the rapture" has 
occurred without our notice, the result is lament- 
able, for some of the best saints have been left be- 
hind. Even the foremost premiliennialists are 
yet here comforting themselves with the assurance 
that they belong to the elect. 

Hence, reasoning backward, we see first that 
"the rapture" has not occurred, "the tribulation," 
234 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

therefore, has not taken place and the fight of 
Armageddon has not yet been fought. As to two 
Armageddons, one before the millennium' and the 
other after the millennium, we have already 
shown that it is incredible that Christ after a 
thousand years should still be so weak on the 
earth that the devil and his angels could get into 
the contest again. When the millennium comes 
it will stay. Christ always goes forward, never 
backward. Therefore, two Armageddons are im- 
possible. If there is to be any Armageddon, it 
will come at the end of this age. 

Nevertheless there is a distinct sense in which 
the recent war may be truthfully called Armaged- 
don, but this requires us to regard the book of 
Revelation as purely figurative and to affirm that 
not one of these descriptions of a final decisive 
conflict to which we have referred can be taken 
literally. In Revelation 16. 14-16, it is said that 
the kings of the earth are to be summoned for 
the battle of the great day of God Almighty at 
a place "called in the Hebrew tongue Armaged- 
don" — a phrase meaning that Armageddon is to 
be taken symbolically. We know that John took 
from the Old Testament most of the materials for 
his visions. Others he took from current events. 
Possibly these pictures of a great final decisive 
struggle are based on some great battle of the Ro- 
man empire with the story of which he was fami- 
liar. It was in his mind as a type. Anyone can 
see that in the description in Revelation 19. 11- 
21 we have simply the military method and para- 
phernalia of the time in which John was living. 
Had he been able to forecast the period of our 
times, he must have used automobiles, tanks, 
motor trucks, big siege guns, bombs, and other 
things belonging to the late war, of which, of 
235 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

course, he had no conception. He was graphically 
putting forward a sublime truth in the material 
forms with which he was acquainted. The same 
is true of Gog and Magog. John's mind was sat- 
urated with the prophecy of Ezekiel. He knew 
it as well as we know our favorite authors, and he 
took the conception of Gog and Magog bodily from 
that book. There the words mean symbolically 
"the foes of God's people/' and in Revelation 20. 9 
the words signify the same — the ungodly peoples 
of the world against the righteous hosts of God. 
This opposition will be overcome through the 
power of Christ. 

As for the final outbreak at the end of the age 
we shall have more to say as we proceed. For 
the present we may observe that these figures 
have entered into the literature of the world. Ar- 
mageddon is used by those who know the Scrip- 
tures much as Waterloo, Gettysburg, and Verdun 
are used as figures of a decisive struggle. Some 
years ago when Theodore Roosevelt addressed the 
national convention of the Progressive Party he 
took occasion to say, "We are at Armageddon, and 
we battle for the Lord." That is, he believed — 
and thousands of his fellow citizens agreed with 
him^that the political situation was a crisis in 
which would be decided the issue between the 
forces of good and ill in the United States. 

Great social and industrial changes have been 
effected within a century. The abolition of slav- 
ery in America and the immense improvement in 
the condition of manual workers in all civilized 
countries are notable examples. In certain in- 
stances these results were not reached without 
terrific struggles. Such events have displayed 
the unconquerable determination of humanity to 
reach a better stage. Once when a social leader 
236 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

presiding at a great meeting in England referred 
to an address which had just been delivered and 
said, "The lecturer evidently thinks that the 
world is getting better, but I do not agree with 
him," Dr. John Clifford, a famous clergyman of 
London, jumped to his feet and said : "I know it is 
getting better. I know that when I was a boy ten 
years of age I was called at six o'clock in the 
morning to work twelve or fourteen hours in a 
lace-factory, and I know that no boy of ten years 
of age will be called to-morrow morning at six 
o'clock to work so many hours in any place in 
England." That advance was not made without 
hard fighting. In every struggle of this charac- 
ter there has been what might be correctly termed 
an Armageddon. 

For a half a century in the United States the 
people who loved sobriety fought the organized 
liquor traffic. By prayers, entreaties, moral sua- 
sion, political action, and every other means at 
their disposal, philanthropists sought to over- 
throw this iniquity. During the late war, for 
economic reasons largely, that fighting men might 
be at their best, with clear minds, steady nerves, 
strong wills, and complete efficiency in every re- 
spect, the prohibition of the liquor traffic was 
temporarily put into effect as a war measure. 
The purpose to save the products of the earth 
used in manufacturing alcoholic beverages for 
feeding the nations also made this action neces- 
sary. Meanwhile sentiment against the liquor 
traffic grew so steadily that before the close of 
the war period a sufficient number of States 
ratified an amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States to sweep the organized 
liquor traffic from the country and to make 
it impossible for this death-dealing stuff to be 
237 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

sold anywhere under the stars and stripes. It is 
perfectly correct to give the name Armageddon 
to such a triumph. 

In a sense thus illustrated, the late war may be 
called Armageddon, for in that tremendous con- 
flict the hosts of iniquity were routed and the 
forces of righteousness prevailed. On the one 
hand was a determination that humanity should 
be enslaved to the will of an autocrat; on the 
other, was an invincible resolution that the people 
should be delivered forever from every species of 
absolutism. The outcome was the triumph of the 
right. This was an Armageddon. 

3. Misuse of prophecy. Inspired by a wrong con- 
ception of the end which prophecy in the Bible is 
intended to serve, it is not strange that certain 
misguided religionists should have attempted to 
support their theories by recourse to the events 
of the recent war. Yet it is both amusing and 
pathetic to observe how these prophecy-mongers 
shaped their interpretations to meet changing con- 
ditions. First they thought the war might be 
Armageddon, the great decisive battle between 
good and evil. Later they said it was probably 
u the great tribulation" which they claim is to end 
the age and open the millennium. Subsequently 
they proclaimed the taking of Jerusalem by Gen- 
eral Allenby as a fulfillment of prophecy. They 
noticed that the English Army had swept over the 
ancient Armageddon. They certified that things 
were surely rounding up for the end. Then they 
instanced the Zionistic movement, which has been 
carrying thousands of Jews to Palestine and 
which began long before the war broke out. This 
also was in fulfillment of prophecy. They saw 
with delight that several great European nations 
were disposed to helr> assist the Jewish state in 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

Palestine, Surely, the gathering of Israel in un- 
belief to the ancient land had arrived. The Anti- 
christ would be welcomed. He would set up his 
throne and compel obeisance, and would later be 
overthown by the second coming of Christ to set 
up his kingdom on the earth. Now they are find- 
ing in the League of Nations another evidence that 
prophecy is being fulfilled, though they see that 
the purpose of the League is not quite what they 
fancied it would be at this crisis. We need not 
compete with these prophecy-mongers, but we may 
timidly say that we do not expect the latest pre- 
dictions of these people to be any better fulfilled 
than were the earliest. 

To establish if possible their reputation as fore- 
tellers of the future, these theorists now say that 
they predicted the war before its thunders broke, 
and that they did so on the basis of prophetic 
scriptures. This is an absurdity because on the 
same ground every war that has been fought 
might have been traced to the prediction of Christ 
that there would be wars and rumors of w r ars be- 
fore the end. Furthermore, the recent war was 
not unexpected. The only surprising things about 
it were its suddenness, its unjustifiable provoca- 
tion, and its unparalleled barbarism. All stu- 
dents of world-politics knew that such a conflict 
w^as impending. A few sentimentalists thought 
there would never be another w^ar. Europe had 
become a little reckless by familiarity with clan- 
ger. This explains why England and France 
were so unprepared. The conflagration as a 
whole, however, had long been considered a pos- 
sibility, and to say that the proof of its coming 
was found in the Scriptures, and only there, is 
both untrue and ridiculous. 

These assumed experts in prophecy now claim 
239 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

that they also predicted that the United States 
would enter the war, and that they did this on 
the strength of prophetic announcements in the 
Old Testament. This was perfectly useless be- 
cause millions of people were saying that the 
United States must enter the war. It did not 
require any examination of the Bible to ascertain 
what America would do. The good sense of the 
people, the tradition of American independence 
and devotion to liberty, the respect the citizenship 
has for decency, humanity, and righteousness, 
were sufficient to enable anybody to see and de- 
clare that America, sooner or later, w r ould be in 
the conflict which involved the destinies of so 
many millions of people whom God had created 
with inalienable rights. It is grotesque and almost 
wicked for people to claim that America went 
into the war because some ancient prophet who 
never dreamed of America said we would. 

As the w T ar progressed these prophetic meddlers 
took up Russia, and the minute it went to pieces 
the Scriptures were searched for predictions that 
it would be so. Passages that have no more refer- 
ence to our times than to the Garden of Eden were 
dragged out to show that Russian autocracy would 
fail and that the triumph of democracy would re- 
sult in chaos. To say nothing of the abuse of the 
Bible involved in the procedure, these pretenders 
would not need to search the Scriptures to sup- 
port such a prediction. Any man who had read 
the literature of the Russians for the last twenty- 
five years, or had kept familiar with their history, 
including the political conspiracies of the under- 
world of Russia and the popular ignorance of the 
masses, must have been certain that when the 
overthrow of the Czar occurred it would be fol- 
lowed by chaos and disorder. An immense and 
240 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

loosely united realm which had been the victim 
of imperial bureaucratic abuse, with a people il- 
literate and without the power of self-expression, 
with no centralized or stable government, could 
only rush into revolution when the established in- 
stitutions collapsed. Russia's course was no sur- 
prise to any thoughtful person who had been stu- 
dious of current events. 

We have a recent prophecy by Dr. J. M. Gray, 
dean of the Moody Bible Institute, in which he 
predicts on the basis of the Scriptures that democ- 
racy cannot long endure in Russia, but that "an 
autocracy of the strongest kind" will probably 
take its place. He affirms that Russia "and Ger- 
many and Japan will be in close alliance" at which 
time Russia "will head a military combination 
for the control of the great East such as the 
world shall have never known before. That is 
the day of which Ezekiel speaks when Jehovah 
shall be sanctified by his judgments in the sight 
of all the nations." The greatest war in history, 
therefore, is yet to occur according to this proph- 
ecy. With remarkable egotism the author quoted 
says, "But I draw the veil upon it." Evidently, 
, he believes that the prophets have told him more 
than he ought to reveal to the public, and there- 
fore he restrains himself from disclosing the sol- 
emn mystery. 

It is useless to give further examples of the fool- 
ish prophesying to which people of this sort are 
wedded. If we recognize what prophecy is, we 
shall see how far from its real aim these experts in 
prediction are. The prophet was a great teacher 
for his own generation. His predictions were in- 
tended to give point to his reproaches and ex- 
hortations. These dealt with the events then oc- 
curring or soon to occur. It is a false lead to 
241 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

think the prophets were writing from the stand- 
point of any day but their own. They did not 
dream of our times. They had no w^ay of antici- 
pating European civilization. Any knowledge of 
American history was impossible to them. The 
principles which they proclaimed are good for 
all time, and in this sense the prophets of Israel 
are very modern, just as modern as the human 
heart. They spoke, to people like the residents of 
New York and Chicago, but they did not have 
these cities in their minds. We can apply what 
they taught on morals to our own time because 
human needs are forever the same, but their 
predictions about Jerusalem, Babylon, Tyre, and 
Damascus have no other relation to present or 
future events. 

There is an unfortunate tendency among a cer- 
tain class to use the Bible as an astrologer's man- 
ual or a clairvoyant's dream book instead of tak- 
ing it for what it always and everywhere claims 
itself to be — a book of morals and religion for 
individuals and nations. An illustration of this 
disposition is found in the fact that some curious 
persons discovered that the armistice preceding 
the settlement of peace terms was signed on the 
eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh 
month of the year of 1918, and then turned to the 
eleventh verse of the eleventh chapter of the elev- 
enth book of the Bible and found a sentence there 
which described an event similar to the overthrow 
of the Teuton because of unfaithfulness to a cov- 
enant. It is seen also in the theory that the meas- 
urements of the great pryramid in Egypt agree 
with the prophetic scriptures in fixing our day as 
the end of this dispensation. There were seven 
eclipses in 1917, the year in which the United 
States entered the great world war. Some rela- 
242 



ARMAGEDDON— THE LAST WAR 

tion between the war, the Bible, and these eclipses 
might be sought in the same fashion. The Bible 
is such a wonderful book in the variety of its con- 
tents that a patient man willing to spend his time 
in such folly could in the course of his investiga- 
tions find a verse of Scripture to fit any event an- 
cient or modern, and get for himself the credit 
of being an interpreter of prophecy. Against all 
this evil one may well cry out, "Do not spoil our 
Bible for us !" 

4. The last war. What has been said about the 
meaning of prophecy applies to Armageddon, Gog 
and Magog, and the last great war mentioned in 
the book of Revelation. Of course there must be 
a time tvhen wars will come to an end. If the 
present generation could live on indefinitely, it is 
fairly certain it would never rush to arms if that 
course could be avoided. The people of our day 
are cured of the war craze. But when this gen- 
eration has gone others will follow which may not 
remember the lesson, and other world-wars may 
come, unless the spread of a purer Christianity 
through all the nations shall prevent them. In 
any case wars will cease some day. The prophets 
have said it. Christ is the Prince of Peace. His 
triumph will insure it. 

Will that ending of war come in consequence of 
the hugest war of all time, in which the hosts of 
Christ will be matched against the hosts of Satan, 
and by which the devil and his multitudinous 
squadrons will be destroyed? Americans entered 
the recent war in a large part because they were 
opposed to war. They fought to make fighting no 
longer possible. Must war be ended by war? Per- 
haps. But this is not a revelation of Scriptures. 
The mighty conflict in Revelation 20 is not a mar- 
tial struggle. The whole book is symbolical, and 
243 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

this fight not less than every other in the Apoc- 
alypse is figurative. It means just one thing — . 
that the devil is absolutely certain of failure. 
The Lion of the tribe of Judah is al- 
ways overcoming him. He will be utterly 
destroyed in the end ; that is, evil is to meet its 
perfect overthrow. The dramatic features in the 
description are but the vesture of a sublime idea. 
It is a reflection on the character of God as re- 
vealed in Christ to make the terms literal. 'Tire 
came down from God of heaven, and devoured 
them" 14 must not be thought of as a vast use of 
military atrocity to gain a spiritual end. John, 
who is the accredited author of this book, was 
rebuked by his Lord for wanting fire called down 
upon the discourteous Samaritans. 15 The figure 
of fire still remains with him, but we can no longer 
think of it as literal fire; it is the fire of Pente- 
cost, the holy consuming of love. The age-long 
conflict will end by heavenly, not earthly fire. 

The last great war will be spiritual, not physi- 
cal. What a travesty on God, what a libel on 
Christ, to say that the age of Christian witnessing, 
the period when the love of God shed abroad in 
the hearts of men has been best understood and 
exemplified, will end with the thunder and earth- 
quake of a war more terrible than the world has 
known, and that too by an invasion of celestial 
warriors, who will use the resources of the uni- 
verse with even greater facility than the mighty 
murderers of the twentieth century used the ap- 
pliances of science for the destruction of man- 
kind : 



"Revelation 20. 9. 
:: Luke 9. 54 5 55. 



244 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

Occupy till I come.— Luke 19. 13. 

Hundreds of persons on a December day were 
striding along a famous avenue in a great city. 
They were making their way to places of business 
or seeking haunts of pleasure. All seemed bent 
upon a personal quest of some kind. Not one 
appeared to be paying the slightest attention to 
his fellows. The roar of. the street fell upon ears 
so accustomed to it that it did not seem to be 
noticed. The air was chill, and people were draw- 
ing their outer garments close about them for 
warmth. The eyes of most were looking straight 
on, giving no heed to the scene of bustling activity 
about them. It was an absorbed and apparently 
selfish crowd. Suddenly, above the confused tem- 
pest of sound which rolled through the highway 
rose the mellow cadences of chiming bells in the 
tower of a neighboring church. The noble melody 
of an ancient hymn floated out upon the wintry 
air. A man began to hum in unison with the bells. 
Then another took it up. The example became 
contagious. Presently a dozen or more voices 
joined in the holy song. A change appeared to 
come over the faces of the swinging procession. 
The look of selfish concentration gave way to a 
genial aspect of benevolence. Christmas was com- 
ing ! The bells were predicting it. High over all 
the cares of the world rang the Bethlehem peal — 
"Peace on earth, good will to men." Forward 
into the business of life with renewed zest poured 
245 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

the stream of humanity. Under a like inspiration 
moves the Christian host singing the age-long ex- 
pectation — "Christ is coming !" Sustained by 
that quenchless hope, the work of our Lord's dis- 
ciples will never cease till he shall appear to say, 
"Well done." 

While Jesus definitely promised he would come 
again, he left the time of his return undetermined, 
saying that no man knew it, not even the angels in 
heaven, nor even himself, but only the Father. 1 
However, he gave instructions to his followers 
concerning their conduct in the interval be- 
fore his return. The disciples thought he 
would come very soon. Their expectation 
was natural, for Jesus said much to sug- 
gest it. Evidently, he did not intend to leave 
just that impression, for nineteen centuries have 
slowly rolled away and he has not yet returned. 
Whatever he said, therefore, about the conduct 
of his disciples in the interval is of more import- 
ance to us than it was even to them. He repeat- 
edly commanded them to be watchful during his 
absence. This injunction had several meanings, 
as we shall see by grouping together his recorded 
utterances on this duty. Though these sayings dif- 
fer in their intention, they fall into harmony with 
one another. 

1. Spiritual alertness is urged. Since his disci- 
ples could not know when the Son of man would 
come, or how he would come, it behooved them to 
be instant in watchfulness, so that whenever and 
in whatever way he might come they should be 
ready to receive him. 

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour 
your Lord doth come. 



Matthew 24. 36. Mark. 13. 32. 
246 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an 
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh 2 

Watch therefore: for ye know neither the day 
nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 3 

Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know 
not when the time is. 

For the Son of man is as a man taking a far 
journey, who left his house, and gave authority 
to his servants, and to every man his work, and 
commanded the porter to watch. 

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the 
master of the house cometh, at even, or at mid- 
night, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morn- 
ing: 

Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 

And what I say unto you I say unto all, 
Watch. 4 

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye 
may be accounted worthy to escape all these 
things that shall come to pass, and to stand 
before the Son of man. 5 

The great difference between the world as a 
whole and Christ's disciples at his coming will be 
that the world will be taken unawares, while the 
followers of our Lord will be perfectly calm and 
joyously expectant, since they will have under- 
stood that he would come and will be alert to re- 
ceive him. It is as though a savage who knows 
nothing of the movement of the heavenly bodies 
and an astronomer who virtually lives among the 
blazing worlds of space should both be witnesses 
of the transit of Venus or some eclipse of the 
moon. The one would be totally at loss to account 
for the wonder, and would be filled with alarm by 
the portent; the other, having predicted it, would 



2 Matthew 24. 42, 44. Luke 12. 40. 

3 Matthew 25. 13. 

4 Mark 13. 33-37. 

5 Luke 21. 36. Compare Matthew 26. 41. 

247 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

be gratified at the spectacle and filled with jot 
by the event. The one would be startled because 
of ignorance, the other would be exultant because 
of intelligence. 

Watching, then, is not speculating nor figuring 
nor setting forth dates, but keeping in readiness 
for an event which is to bring joy to the soul, and 
which, however long deferred, is to be kept in 
mind as the climax in history toward which the 
years are surely moving. Watching is not striv- 
ing to hasten the order of Providence by marking 
down the program Jesus should follow. It is not 
running ahead of prophecy and trying to force the 
hand of the Lord. Watching is not keeping the eye 
turned with suspicion upon the world, seeking to 
detect signs that it is growing worse, and taking 
secret satisfaction in the thought that it is rush- 
ing to its doom, on the theory that this catas- 
trophe will compel the early return of Christ. It 
is, rather, setting the mind in an attitude of ex- 
pectancy, keeping the soul calm in prospect of his 
coming, and waiting with patience until he be 
revealed from heaven. 

2. Spiritual preparedness is required. In conse- 
quence of watching for their Lord's coming, his 
disciples ought to feel the necessity of being quali- 
fied to receive him. This is something nobler than 
a mere state of expectancy. It must carry with 
it a spiritual readiness. Jesus said to his dis- 
ciples, 

Let your loins be girded about, and your 
lights burning; 

And ye yourselves like unto men that wait 
for their lord, when he will return from the 
wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, 
they may open unto him immediately. 6 



6 Luke 12. 35, 36. 

248 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

Here it is evident that our Lord means that his 
disciples shall set their characters in order, so 
that when he comes they shall not be found want- 
ing. That is much more than wakefulness. In the 
beautiful parable of the virgins; 7 we have an illus- 
tration of what is intended by this teaching. The 
trouble with the foolish virgins was that they were 
only waiting. They were not watching, for they 
were asleep. Not only so, but they were in no 
sense prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. 
They had no oil in their lamps. They were like 
people of our own day who dwell with great satis- 
faction on the fact that Christ will return, but 
have taken no special care that their spiritual life 
shall be right when he comes. Those who are 
mindful of their duty will have an exceedingly 
great reward. 

Blessed are those servants, whom the lord 
vhen he cometh shall find watching: verily I 
say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and 
make them to sit down to meat, and will come 
forth and serve them. 

And if he shall come in the second watch, or 
come in the third watch, and find them so, 
blessed are those servants. 8 

To take another figure : If the householder 
had known when the thief was coming he would 
have watched. He would not have been taken by 
surprise. He would have been ready. 9 Jesus 
warned his disciples against a state of unpre- 
paredness: 

Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time 
your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, 
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and 
so that day come upon your unawares. 10 



7 Matthew 25. 1-13. °Matthew 24. 43. Luke 12. 39. 
8 Luke 12. 37, 38. 10 Luke 21. 34. 
249 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Peter in later times gives the same advice in a 
familiar passage : 

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye 
therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 11 

He follows this exhortation with a setting forth 
of what this kind of preparedness means. It 
includes charity, hospitality, stewardship of 
divine grace, endurance, steadfastness, self-sacri- 
fice, and other qualities of Christian sincerity. 12 

Waiting and watching, therefore, are not mere 
dawdling and dreaming. The apostles waited at 
Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit, but 
they were not sinipdy tarrying in the sense of con- 
suming time. They were waiting on the Lord. 
They were full of prayer, meditation, and con- 
versation about heavenly things. They were spir- 
itually minded. So must all our Lord's disciples 
be in anticipation of his return. 

3. Spiritual service is demanded. We have a 
parable which contains this teaching in a most 
impressive fashion. Its central idea is contained 
in the sentence, "Occupy till I come." This par- 
able was given to some who fancied the kingdom 
of God was immediately to appear. 13 The story 
is very 'familiar. A certain nobleman goes into a 
far country to receive for himself a kingdom and 
to return. He calls together his servants and puts 
a certain amount of money into the hands of each, 
telling them to use it to the best advantage. When 
he returns the first of his servants reports that 
he has multiplied his capital ten times; the sec- 
ond, that he has multiplied his five times; but 



u l Peter 4. 7. 
12 1 Peter 4. 8-19, 
13 Luke 19. 11. 

250 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

the third brings back his original capital without 
any increase, tor he has kept it entirely to him- 
self. It has not been wasted, but neither has it 
been used. This servant is most severely con- 
demned, while the other two are most cordially 
praised. 14 That story ought to correct a great 
deal of misconception. 

This parable may be compared with the equally 
plain teaching of other illustrations used by our 
Lord. Take the case already cited of the porter 
who is charged with the looking after the house 
in his master's absence. 15 In this instance the 
servant is not merely waiting, but attending 
strictly to business. He is not just keeping up 
the outward show of protection for the home, he 
is the steady and vigilant guardian of the inter- 
ests of the family. Take again the case of the 
head servant. If he does his duty, he will have 
the praise of his master. If he fails, he will be 
punished and discharged. 

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom 
his lord hath made ruler over his household, to 
give them meat in due season? 

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when 
he cometh shall find so doing. 

Verily I say unto you, That he shall make 
him ruler over all his goods. 

But and if that evil servant shall say in his 
heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 

And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, 
and to eat and drink with the drunken; 

The lord of that servant shall come in a day 
when he looketh not for him, and in an hour 
that he is not aware of, 

And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him 
his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 16 



14 Luke 19, 12-26. 
15 Mark 13. 34. 
"Matthew 24. 45-51. 

251 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Over against the picture of the chief servant who 
looks after even the wants of the servants under 
him in his master's absence is the picture of the 
servant who not only neglects his fellow servants, 
but abuses them and spends his own time and en- 
ergy in fasting and drunkenness. This servant was 
presumptuous, saying that he could do as he liked 
because "my lord delayeth his coining.'' 1 . 7 

The phrase, ''Occupy till I come " really means, 
"Transact business till I return." 18 It is one of 
the most important things which the believer in 
Christ's second coming must hold in mind. An 
equally strong putting of the duty is found in the 
parable of the talents, 19 the point of which is that 
we are not to be quiescent Christians complacently 
waiting our Lord's return. This is most offensive 
to the Master. We must be eager, watchful, ag- 
gressive, industrious, and successful workers at 
the task he has set for us until he comes again. 
Otherwise he will say to us when he returns : 
"You were not doing anything but waiting, or, 
at the best, you were only trying to cultivate your 
own spiritual life. You should have been busy. 
Why did you not transact business according to 
your ability for my benefit, so that when I should 
return I might find you ready?" 

4. Practical measures are to be used. Anthony 
Trollope always wrote with his watch on his 
desk. He was probably the most methodical of 
all the well-known English writers of fiction. He 
drilled himself into the practice of writing two 
hundred and fifty words every quarter of an hour 
when once he had settled for his day's work, and 



17 Luke 12. 42-48. 

l8 "Trade ye herewith till I come" (Revised Version). 

19 Matthew 25. 14-30. 

252 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

made sure of completing his thousand words an 
hour. He ridiculed the idea of waiting for in- 
spiration, and punctually produced his stint 
with the regularity of clockwork. He could 
also write as easily while traveling on a 
railway, train as at his desk, and com- 
posed what is considered his best book in this 
way. The disciples of Christ who realize their 
true function will feel impelled to "transact busi- 
ness" for their Lord with similar attention to 
system and to the economical distribution of their 
time. They will not yield to the delusion that 
watching means merely gathering the saints to- 
gether in order to witness to the fact that Jesus 
is coming again. They will see that it really 
means getting busy, so that when he shall come 
the work which has been done will satisfy him. It 
requires something more than preaching on the 
street corners and alluring as many as possible 
to the gospel message. It means organization and 
evangelization by the use of the best brains we 
have. It demands something more than opening 
the Word and being contented whether few or 
many are willing to hear it. It involves some- 
thing more than depending on what are called 
spiritual exercises. It means social service of 
every sort by which the kingdom of God may ap- 
proach its final triumph. 

To this some will respond that Jesus is soon to 
return, and that he will attend to all social re- 
forms by sweeping out every evil at one blow and 
establishing his kingdom in righteousness and 
strength by his personal sovereignty. If this be 
the case, it is asked, why should Christians worry 
about the advancement of man's welfare or the 
building up of helj)ful social structures? Christ 
will in due time change the whole order of society, 
253 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

it is claimed, and hence needs no preparatory or 
introductory work by human hands. 

The answer to this objection is that, in the 
first place, it is exceedingly selfish and is directly 
contrary to the spirit of Christ. It is opposed to 
such teaching as Jesus gave in the parable of the 
good Samaritan. It runs contrary to our Lord's 
parables of the kingdom, particularly those which 
evidently point to the increase of righteousness in 
society. It disregards the happiness of others. 
It virtually declares that we need not be anxious 
about the comfort of our fellows because their 
physical and social welfare is of no importance 
compared with their spiritual destiny. We need 
give attention only to the cultivation of their 
souls. Christ's social teachings were of such a 
nature that this view must be abhorrent to him. 
His great double commandments taught that love 
to fellow man was as important as love to God. 20 
In his early speech in the synagogue at Xaz- 
areth 21 he plainly showed that he had a social 
program, and that one of the proofs that he was 
the Messiah was the fact that he was putting 
through this great scheme of social redemption. 
He appealed to his works of mercy as the creden- 
tials of his ministry. 22 At the heart of it all was 
a great spiritual purpose. He came to seek and 
to save that which was lost, but wherever the res- 
olution to save men's souls is fixed it will show 
itself in the purpose to heij) the physical or mate- 
rial interests of mankind. In the case of Jesus 
this was so fully shown by his ministry to the sick 
and the suffering that it is hard to understand 
how any Christian can believe that his own duty 

20 Matthew 22. 37-39. Luke 10. 27. 

21 Luke 4. 18, 19. 

"Matthew 11. 2-6. Luke 7. 19-23. 

254 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

is simply to witness that Christ is coming again, 
and that when he does all the troubles of the world 
will cease. Jesus very clearly intended that the 
world should be made better by a steady process 
until he should come to take it over in his Father's 
name. 

The example of the apostles shows that what 
we have said above was accepted by them as their 
true mission. If they had felt as some premillen- 
nialists do, they would not have engaged in the 
kind of work they undertook. Of course they 
expected that Christ would return very soon. 
Paul and the other apostles could have urged that 
the immediate business of the church was to 
preach salvation, and to pay no attention to re- 
lieving the evils which vexed the social life of 
their times. As a matter of fact, they did nothing 
of the sort. The early church engaged at once 
in benevolent work. They went right on with 
the business of helping the material interests of 
men as if they did not expect Christ ever to re- 
turn. Paul took up collections for poor saints 
at Jerusalem. A board of deacons with Stephen 
as its head was organized to look after the wel- 
fare of persons who were likely to be neglected. 
The apostles struck out boldly against all the evils 
of their day. They did this so resolutely that 
wherever they went they were in peril. The early 
church pursued this policy so faithfully that in 
three centuries it had broken down the power of 
imperial Rome, and had changed public sentiment 
concerning slaves, paupers, and other unfor- 
tunates, and had given to woman a position of 
dignity she had never before occupied. 

A policy such as is now urged by j)eople who be- 
lieve that Christ is coming back soon would have 
defeated the Christian Church at the very begin- 
255 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

ning. Those tremendous changes which occurred 
in the social and political life of Europe would 
never have been brought to pass. Such a mis- 
guided policy would have left the world dead to 
social righteousness for one thousand years. That 
Christ did not purpose to return within that 
period is now perfectly clear to us. When we are 
told that b}' his frequent exhortations to watch 
because men would not know when he w^ould re- 
turn he meant that he might come back any day, 
we have an assumption which cannot be proved. 
Since our Lord has not returned in the twentieth 
century after his ascension, it seems clear that 
there never has been a day since he ascended from 
the slopes of Olivet when he might have come 
back. Let us think of the awful wilderness which 
history would have become had the Christian 
Church as a whole held the idea that since Christ 
might come any time, therefore it was foolish to 
fare forth to relieve the social and political in- 
iquities which were afflicting society. 

Such an attitude would have kept Christians 
from every righteous war against tyranny by 
which liberty has been obtained by an oppressed 
people. It would have hindered their entering 
the recent war for the freedom of the world. In 
fact, it did prevent a very considerable number 
of persons from doing their particular duty to 
their own land, and their philanthropic duty to the 
whole world. A very large proportion of those 
who resisted the draft or who offered conscien- 
tious objections to military service were those who 
held this view. In their judgment nothing was to 
be done by men for a better civilization. Every- 
thing would be done in due time by the return of 
Christ. 

Some hold that institutional religion is foreign 
256 






THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

to the simple gospel. That idea was hatched in 
the brain of the devil. We have already referred 
to the speech of Jesus at Nazareth, and to the 
organization of the church for benevolent activi- 
ties. The history of the Christian era discloses the 
fact that Christianity has been at the bottom of 
every great civil and social reform. In our own 
time the churches have been the most active par- 
ticipants in every commendable work for the 
building up of society. The great missionary 
boards of the various Protestant denominations 
have within our day laid hands upon the best sci- 
entific appliances for carrying the gospel to the re- 
motest corners of the earth. They have taken in 
hand every great mechanism which civilization has 
adopted, and have vitalized it with the spirit of 
devotion. We have seen the Christian Church be- 
coming the most practical organization in the 
world. We have witnessed the gathering of in- 
credible millions of money, and the summoning 
to its sublime work of armies of devout souls, to 
spread the knowledge of Christ throughout the 
whole earth. 

When Joshua and his hosts came to the Jordan 
river, which separated them from the land of 
Canaan and was swollen beyond the possibility 
of being forded, they were dependent upon a 
miracle for their safe crossing of the overflowing 
stream. 23 When Elisha had witnessed the depar- 
ture of Elijah and would return to those who 
were awaiting his ministry, he crossed the same 
river by smiting the waters with the mantle of 
the ascended prophet. 24 But when the English 
army came to the Jordan during the recent war 
no mira cle was required for their transit. They 

23 Joshua 3. 14-17. 
24 2 Kings 2. 12-14. 

257 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

threw a steel bridge across the stream and 
marched their troops over it in due order and 
redeemed Palestine by the skill of their military 
engineers. That is a fair type of the business of 
Christ's church in these days. Christians are to 
do the work of the Lord by the best means which 
the inventive genius of man has placed at their 
disposal. The interests of Christ's kingdom must 
be set forward as wisely and expeditiously as the 
commercial or political enterprises of the world 
at large. Indeed, if the church is alert and sees 
its actual responsibility, it will quickly excel se- 
cular institutions in the shrewdness, business sa- 
gacity, and materials with which it does its work. 
This it can do without a moment's neglect of that 
fine principle which Zechariah gave to his genera- 
tion and which applies to every age of the church : 
< k Xot by might nor by power, but by my spirit, 
saith the Lord of hosts." 25 The arm of flesh will 
be driven by the breath of God. 

5. Christ's personal fellowship is assured. While 
our Lord is not visibly present with his disciples, 
he is spiritually active in his church, and is com- 
rade to the souls of the millions who trust in his 
saving grace. The guarantee if his fellowship is 
in his own words : 

Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
of the world. 26 

Where two or three are gathered together in 
my name, there am I in the midst of them. 27 

He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, 
and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
to him. . . . We will come unto him and make 
our abode with him. 28 

It is the peculiar error of many that they regard 

25 Zechariah 4. 6. 27 Matthew 18. 20. 

2e Matthew 28. 20. 2S John 14. 21-23. 

258 

i 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

Christ as no longer in the world which belongs to 
him simply because he has withdrawn his figure 
from the gaze of men. They seem to think he has 
abdicated in favor of some successor who in turn 
will yield to him at the end of the age. It is in 
this sense that they refer to this era as the dis- 
pensation of the Holy Spirit, as though there were 
a partition of time among the persons of the 
Trinity, so that temporarily the Son of God is not 
exercising his authority in this world. They 
speak of him as their absent Lord precisely as 
the people of England might have spoken of Rich- 
ard as their absent king when he was away on a 
crusade to win the holy sepulcher. They ignore 
the spiritual presence of Christ, and they virtu- 
ally deny that he has any power in the world, af- 
firming that it will be necessary for him to re- 
turn in bodily form before he can acquire his sov- 
ereignty. But relief from this embarrassment is 
at hand, in their judgment, for Christ will come 
quickly. 

At a meeting of premillennialists in London in 
December, 1917, which was attended by many min- 
isters and laymen, whose interest in the predictive 
element of prophecy had been quickened by the 
war then at its height, Julia Ward Howe's stir- 
ring "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was sung. 
At the suggestion of a well-known clergyman the 
last line of the chorus, "Our Lord is marching on/' 
.w r as changed to "For Christ is coming soon." That 
was an unwarranted proceeding in two respects. 
It was an offensive tinkering with an author's 
words, and it was a piece of pious presumption. 
No one knows that Christ is coming soon, and 
everybody knows that God is marching on; that 
is, every one but premillennialists, who still cling 
to the delusion that God is being defeated. 
259 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

Those who say that Christ will return in the 
near future base their confidence on what they 
regard as unmistakable signs of his coming. Yet 
there is one thing requisite according to their own 
theory which does not appear on the horizon. Paul 
w r rote to the Thessalonians to admonish them not 
to imagine "that the day of Christ is at hand." 

Let no man deceive you by any means: for 
that day shall not come, except there come a 
falling away first, and that man of sin be re- 
vealed, the son of perdition. 29 

Vain efforts are made to show that this dread 
apostasy is now rending the Christian Church, but 
the facts are all against the claim, while "the man 
of sin," otherwise known as the Antichrist, is still 
in concealment. 

Another scriptural interference with the no- 
tion that Christ will return in the immediate fu- 
ture is the announcement of our Lord: 

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations; 
and then shall the end come. 30 

The definition of the terms "the world" and "a 
witness" Jesus gives in one of his latest utter- 
ances : 

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
to every creature. 31 

No blanket proclamation that Christ is coming 
again will fulfill this command. At this very 
hour more than a score of Protestant bodies are 
making a concerted campaign to invade "unoc- 



29 2 Thessalonians 2. 3. 
30 Matthew 24. 14. Mark. 13. 10. 
31 Mark 16. 15. 

260 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

eupied territory" with the gospel of the kingdom. 
They take the phrase "every creature" in a literal 
sense. They know their Lord will not return till 
his injunction has been obeyed. Meanwhile they 
are assured of his spiritual leadership in the work 
which will eventually fulfill his ambition to cover 
the earth with the knowledge of his redemption 
sacrifice. 

6. Speculation about Christ's return is unprofit- 
able. To say, "My lord delayeth his coming/' and 
then to relax vigilance is scarcely worse than to 
say, "My lord will arrive at any minute," and then 
to forsake work and stand gazing in the direction 
from which he is expected. There is a tendency in 
some minds to make every unknowable thing an 
object of everlasting search. The deeper the mys- 
tery, the greater the fascination. The closer a 
man thinks he comes to the solution of the prob- 
lem, the more attractive it is to him. The longer 
he ponders upon it, the more important it seems. 
At last it grows to be the supreme thing. 

This tendency is illustrated in the hold which 
speculations on life after death have for certain 
minds. The Bible is quite reserved concerning that 
question, but on the strength of the little it does 
say, and out of curiosity to know more than has 
been revealed, many persons take up every sugges- 
tion made by superstition and make the most of 
it with the hope that some truth may be found. 
Hence, many resort to spiritualism, psychical re- 
search, and studies in the occult. Now, it is a 
rare mind which can pursue these things as 
merely subordinate investigations, or innocent ex- 
cursions into the unknown. With most people 
who follow them continuously they finally attain 
the highest moment. Therefore they become the 
easy dupes of every species of imposture. It is 
261 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

difficult for them to be moderate, and almost im- 
possible for them to be reasonable, in respect to 
these mysterious things. 

The second coming of Christ is one of those 
subjects which exercise a profound influence over 
many minds. The very uncertainty of the time of 
Christ's second advent, the dramatic accompani- 
ments with which it is supposed his return will 
be attended, the tragic overthrow of all his ene- 
mies so vividly predicted, the appeal to the imag- 
ination made by the rise of apocalyptic literature 
— these and other things weave a spell over the 
thought of many which prevents them from con- 
sidering the business of the present which our 
Lord desires his followers to transact. Since the 
second coming of Christ is a religious question, 
it has for such minds the place of chief import- 
ance. It is the one treasure of piety. It is the 
pearl of great price for which all other jewels 
may* be safely bartered. We see this extreme posi- 
tion taken by clergymen who, whatever may be 
the theme of their discourse on a given occasion, 
are sure to gravitate to the question of the second 
coming, the millennium, or some kindred topic. 
We see it displayed in the absorption of devout 
Christians, who seem to have lost interest in every 
kind of religious culture which does not have this 
doctrine for its center. We see it in those re- 
ligious leaders who teach the people that witness- 
ing to the return of our Lord is the real and only 
business of evangelism. Harmful consequences 
attend this obsession. 

1. It puts an element of unreality or insin- 
cerity into the conduct of its votaries. The reader 
will instantly think of persons whose conduct is 
an exception to this charge. There are busy and 
practical men who, in spite of their complete devo- 
262 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

tion to the doctrine of Christ's second coming, are 
earnestly doing the best kind of work for the cause 
of Christ. But these men actually illustrate the 
element of unreality in the very contradictory way 
in which they proceed. Professing to believe that 
Christ is going to return very soon, they act as if 
he would never return. A noted evangelist of our 
time, ^ who is reputed to be a millionaire and who 
is celebrated for his strong belief that Christ may 
return any day, compels the thoughtful to believe 
that he is not sincere, since he goes on piling up 
wealth which on his theory he may lose to-morrow T . 
If he spent this money as fast as he made it, one 
would regard him as entirely consistent. But as 
he .increases his holdings and only makes com- 
paratively slight subtractions from it for chari- 
table and religious purposes, the conviction is deep- 
ened that his conduct and his teaching cannot be 
reconciled. Such men do not actually believe 
what they claim. There is another extreme w T hich 
at least has the virtue of being consistent. Many 
who hold the doctrine that Christ may return any 
moment become idealists, improvident and use- 
less, either in society or in the church. Paul found 
it necessary to rebuke such persons in his Second 
Epistle to the Thessalonians. Cases of like sort 
have occurred throughout the entire Christian 
era, and they exist to-day. It is still necessary to 
warn certain types of Christians that our Lord 
challenges them to keep working till he comes 
back, and if he does not come back during their 
lifetime to still go on transacting business. 

2. Absorption in this doctrine takes men out of 
relation to the current life of their times. They 
regard the world as a mere passing fantasy. Their 
interest in social, civic, and political affairs is very 
slight. They are removed from all plans of social 
263 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

reconstruction. They see no sense in doing what 
Christ himself, according to their program, will 
some day do most efficiently and completely. They 
have a total misconception of the missionary move- 
ment of our age. They hold that it is only neces- 
sary to get enough persons saved to complete the 
body of Christ. They look upon humanity as 
divided into two classes, the elect and the non- 
elect. Their only concern is to add to the elect 
a sufficient number to complete the body of Christ. 
If they fail in any case to secure converts, they 
feel no disappointment because those who have 
refused are of the noneiect. They are not grieved 
at the wastefulness of great evangelistic cam- 
paigns of the popular type because if out of five 
hundred persons who on an occasion accept the 
invitation to swear fidelity to Christ there are 
but ten who endure, that number, in their judg- 
ment, exactly covers the elect out of the whole 
mass. The lapsing of the rest gives them no un- 
easiness because that big remnant never could be- 
long to the body of Christ. The fatalism of it is 
monstrous, and the destructiveness- of it for the 
future operations of the church is terrible. But 
these things do not move the premillennial advent- 
ist of the extreme t} T pe. 

This indifference is manifested toward the vast 
democratic movement of our times, and the growth 
of international public sentiment. "Why/' they 
ask, "should anyone fight for democracy, for the 
elevation of the people, when Christ is coming 
soon to establish not a democracy but a theoc- 
racy ?" They do not understand that when 
Christ is in the hearts of the people democracy 
will be a theocracy. On the contrary, they are 
sure that democracy is doomed to failure, and 
that only a kingdom set up by Christ on the earth 
264 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

in person can fill the need of the world. Henee 
many preniillennialists were indifferent, and even 
hostile, to the late war for the liberty of the world. 
"Let the devastation go on/' was their position. 
"The more bitter and dreadful it is, the more 
quickly the Lord will return. It is of no use to 
whip autocracy. Christ will come and dispossess 
all monarchies by setting up his own autocracy." 
This was the argument of multitudes of mis- 
guided religionists who put the doctrine of the 
second coming of Christ in the place of absolute 
primacy. 

3. False interpretations are made by people 
holding these views concerning the life of the 
world. In their opinion events have no meaning 
except as they point to the catastrophe which will 
mark the close of the age. They look away from 
present needs to the time when the coming of our 
Lord will abolish all such needs. If they consider 
passing events at all, it is to figure out of them 
signs of the times which show the speedy return 
of Christ. They treat the Bible in the same way. 
The value of the Scriptures to them is measured 
by the number of texts they can find to prove the 
second coming of our Lord. They dredge the 
Bible from end to end, seeking what may serve 
their purpose, regardless of the time, circum- 
stances, or authorship of detached passages. It is 
such an abuse of the Word of God that every lover 
of the truth should cry out against it. 

4. They ignore all use of human judgment in 
the study of the, great themes of the Bible. We 
know that some subjects are not wholly a matter 
of revelation and that reason may properly be 
used in reaching a conclusion about a doctrine. 
Paul says, "There are, it may be, so many kinds of 
voice in the world, and none of them is without 

265 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

signification/- 32 One of these voices is reason. 
Paul uses it to good effect in his argument on 
the resurrection. 33 He also employs this power 
wherever in his various epistles he shows how 
superior Christianity is to the old Hebrew re- 
ligion. The same process may properly be used 
with reference to the second advent. We have 
not enough direct statement about the time and 
purpose of Christ's second coming to enable us to 
say what is the complete truth. Jesus seems to be 
purposely vague and indefinite. He did not say in 
so many words that he w^ould come back bodily, or 
that he would take up a certain program. The 
time of his appearing is not fixed. He left the 
matter open to reason. By that method he has 
kept us intensely interested. He has left us to 
compare scripture with scripture, to draw infer- 
ences, and come to a decision ourselves. To say 
that we are confined to naked scripture in deter- 
mining a doctrine is to force us to do what no 
apostle ever did. He expressed his judgments and 
defended them by reason just as w T e are entitled 
to do. God has given us the history of human ex- 
perience. He has given us the ways and the facts 
of nature. He has endowed us with the pow r er to 
make investigations in the universe, and science 
is constantly throwing light on human life. No 
one has a right to build a doctrine without taking 
this revelation into account. It is as essentially 
divine in origin as the revelation of God in liter- 
ary form. We make mistakes in our reading of 
both volumes. The book of nature is not perfectly 
understood by us, and the book we call holy is not 
in all respects clear to us. But w T e cannot disre- 
gard either. God is the author of each. 

32 1 Corinthians 14. 10. 
33 1 Corinthians 15. 

266 



THE BUSINESS OF THE HOUR 

Reason and revelation combine to lead us to the 
belief in Christ's return which has been developed 
in the preceding pages. The expectation of the 
second advent is apparently an indestructible 
sentiment of Christendom. It is correctly founded 
on the declarations of Jesus and the teachings of 
his apostles. It is sustained by the logic of 
Christ's redemptive work. The return of our Lord 
is in his own words and in the thought of his 
apostles connected with the triumph of his king- 
dom, which is variously called the kingdom of 
heaven, the kingdom of God, and by similar and 
equivalent designations. That kingdom had its 
earliest proclamation in the promise made to 
David and his successors, though the idea 
of it is expressed in the first recorded 
communications of God to man. The concep- 
tions of the kingdom were broadened, deep- 
ened, and spiritualized under the teachings of the 
Hebrew prophets. The central figure of the king- 
dom in their view was the Messianic prince — by 
whose power all kingdoms would be subdued, and 
through whose triumph the whole world would be 
blessed. In vivid pictorial forms apocalyptic writ- 
ers portrayed this victory over the enemies of 
righteousness down to the age when Christ ap- 
peared in Palestine. Our Lord's ministry intro- 
duced in more visible relations the kingdom of 
which he was the sovereign. By the work of his 
apostles and their successors the extension of this 
kingdom proceeded &fter Christ's withdrawal 
from physical contact with men, and is still going 
forward with ever-increasing rapidity and pros- 
perity. When the mission of the church which 
our Lord founded has been completed, and the 
gospel of the kingdom has had its full opportunity 
to be heard and accepted by mankind, Christ will 
267 



THE RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

return to receive the kingdom which has been 
committed to his followers during his bodily ab- 
sence, to confirm his sovereignty over the whole 
world, to raise the dead, to judge all mankind, 
and to deliver the kingdom which has absorbed all 
kingdoms into the hands of God the Father. Then 
the earthly life will melt into the heavenly life, 
and we shall be "forever with the Lord." 



268 



INDEX 

Age, end of the, 170; time of Christ's return, 173 

Aion, meaning of, 171 

Alertness, spiritual, urged, 246 

Alessandro, artist, cited, 184 

Amos, words of, 78 

Antichrist, the, appearance of, 183; puzzle of the, 184; 
denned, 185; sources of idea of, 186; doctrine of, 188; 
apostolic teaching about, 189; not the same as Satan, 
189; written of by Paul, 190; many of them busy in the 
world, 192; title coupled with individuals, 193; clue 
to puzzle of, 194; words of Bible concerning, 195; ex- 
plained, 197; term defined, 197; destruction of, 234 

Apocalypse of John, the, 207; drama of the, 184 

Apokahipsis, meaning of, 26 

Apostles, the, true to their own day, 182 

Arabian Nights, The, story in, 130 

Armageddon, the last war, 226; origin of, 228; referred 
to, 229, 230; meaning of, 231; interpretations of, 232; 
two Armageddons impossible, 235 

Ascension of Jesus, Scripture describing, 51; disciples 
present at, 133 

Babylon, beginning of, 79 ; king of, 185 

Benediction, spiritual, 76 

Benevolent work, engaged in by early church, 255 

Bengel, belief of, 12 

Bible, the, used by some as if it were a clairvoyant's 

dream book, 242 
Bolshevism, rise and progress of, 14; in religion, 198 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, cited, 18; complaint of, 130; 

charged with being Antichrist, 197; cited, 229 
Bonticelli, referred to, 184 
Business of the hour, the, 245 

Csesar, Julius, Britain invaded by, 60; defied by Christ, 
61; failure of his conquest, 62 

Christ, several comings of, 43 ; attitude of Herod tow ard, 
60; Roman empire challenged by, 61; affirms his king- 
ship before Pilate, 61; public ministry of, 107; strik- 
ing thing about, 108; encounter of with Antichrist, 
269 



RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

187; not honored by premillennialists' interpretation 
of Scripture, 220; social teachings of, 254; personal 
fellowship of assured, 258 

Christian era, history of, 257 

Christians, persecutions of, 13 

Christ's return, ridiculed by opposers of doctrine, llff. ; 
date of foolishly announced by some, 11; persistent be- 
lief in doctrine of, 20; influential reason for belief in, 
20; thought necessary by early church, 21; still 
thought by many essential to conversion of world, 21; 
not believed to be an accomplished fact, 29; not 
desired by evil-minded men, 30; certain to occur, 30; 
promise concerning, 31; hour of not known to Jesus 
himself, 38; the expectation of, 49; speculation about 
unprofitable, 261; reasonableness of belief in, 267 

Church, Christian, corrupted, 13; progress of, 46; born 
on day of Pentecost, 153; divided to-day, 154; as the 
body of Christ, 157; as a growing institution, 160; 
figures of speech relative to, 162; not identical with 
the kingdom, 163 

Cologne, cathedral at, 149 

Coming, the Lord's, different significance of to different 
people, 10; dying belief of early Christians concerning, 
10; reasons for disbelief in by some examined, 10ff.; 
the year 1934 named for, 12; vain process of calculat- 
ing hour of, 13; decline of spiritual religion believed 
to foretoken, 13; early Christians rebuked for views 
relative to, 18; as Judge, 23; his kingdom a part of, 
61; worthy to be sifted from unworthy, 63 

Cressy, battle of, 63 

Daniel, prophecy of, 98; quoted, 99; doctrines taught in 

book of, 104 
David, rule of, 72 
"Day of the Lord," 103, 105, 107 
Delay in coming, Christ's, 30 
Devil, the loosing of, 184; called "serpent," 193 
Disciples, fleshly ideas of concerning the kingdom, 132; 

with Jesus after resurrection, 133 
Doctrine, millenarian, incorrectly based, 210 
Domitian, referred to, 196 
Doom and deliverance, 99 

Earth, end of the, 166; biblical description of destruction 

of, 168; satanic power let loose on, 193 
Edward, the Black Prince, feat of, 63 
Epiplianeia, meaning of, 26 

270 



INDEX 

Epiphanes, Antiochus, overthrow of, 103; persecutor of 

the people of Israel, 186; cited, 192 
Exile, the, 80; effect of upon prophets, 85; referred to, 

99 
Ezekiel, anathemas of, 80 

Fire, medium of world's destruction, 168 

Fisher, Admiral Lord, words of, 226 

Fleet, English, Londonderry relieved by, 9 

Foundation, alleged millennial, 210 

French Revolution, associated with Christ's return, 13 

Gate Beautiful, lame man healed at, 136 

Germany, millenarian movement in, 12 

Gog and Magog, overthrow of, 82; referred to, 228 

Gray, Dr. J. M., views of, 241 

"Great tribulation, the," 233; premillennialists' belief 

about, 234 
Greek Church, greeting used by, 10 

Habakkuk, doom of Judah announced by, 80 

Hebrew race, the choice of Jehovah, 72 

Herod, 60 

History, climax of, 181 

Hohenzollern, William, vain dream of, 18; selfish am- 
bition of, 71; identified with Antichrist, 197 

Holy Spirit, influence of upon believers, 21; his coming 
not identical with personal coming of Christ, 45 

Huss, John, 13 

Huxley, John, quoted, 175 

Infidelity, delusion of, 23 
Interpretation, examples of wrong, 15-18 
Irenseus, 206 

Irving, Edward, referred to, 12 
Isaiah, quoted, 79, 81, 169 

Israel, crisis of doom for, 78; chastisement of enemies 
of, 80, 81; the football of Gentile nations, 205 

James II, referred to, 9 

Jeremiah, words of, 73, 75, 80 

Jerusalem, fall of, associated with Christ's return, 13; 
referred to by Christ, 29, 36, 38; close of epoch marked 
by, 46; effect of upon prophets, 85; council of, 137 

Jesus, after resuirection of, 39, 43; ascension of, 40; 
quoted, 40, 42, 44, 47; expected coming of, 50, 52; par- 
able spoken by, 62, 63; signs and wonders associated 
271 



RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

with, 64; kingdom of identical with kingdom of God, 
64; quoted, 66; particular phrases used by, 69; honor 
of royalty claimed by, 110; his answer to Peter's ques- 
tion, 112; preaching of, 115; parables spoken by, 121, 
122; not friendly to notion of a material kingdom, 
124; response of to Nicodemus, 125; to return and 
claim the world, 147; destruction of looked for by 
John, 192 

Jewish state, a vassal of Rome, 206 

Jews, the, traditional ideas of, 131 

John, the apostle, a great writer, 192 

Judaism, passing of, 156 

Judas Iscariot, defection of, 134 

Judgment, the final, 216 

Judgment, work of in second advent, 34; spoken of by 
Jesus, 128 

Jurieu, date of Christ's return determined by, 12 

Justin Martyr, 206 

Kaiser, the German, fact concerning, 194 

Kingdom, the, as the prophets foresaw it, 71; triumph of 
the, 74; judgments of, 77; distinguishing quality of, 
100; doom and deliverance brought by, 113; nearness 
of, 115; progressive, 119; spiritual, 122; not of this 
world, 123; associated with resurrection idea, 126, 
145; Jesus the central figure of, 127; as the apostles 
taught it, 130; entrance into, 141; present possession 
of, 142; portrayed as moral, ethical, spiritual, 143; 
future triumph of, 144; when its Christian phase be- 
gan, 147; associated with the church, 149; possesses no 
outward form of its own, 149; distinguished from the 
church, 150; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob belonged to, 
150; active in the church, 151; victorious through* the 
church, 153 

Kingdom of heaven, same as the Lord's kingdom, 66- 
69; to be everlasting, 111; not of this world, 128 

Lassalle, Ferdinand, leadership of, 49 

"Last time," the, 195, 196 

"Last times, the," 180 

League of Nations, cited, 14; an experiment, 227 

Life, earthly, end of, 174 

Lillingston, Isaac William, remarkable experience of, 

164 
Liquor traffic, battle against, 237 
Literature, apocalyptic, 97 
Living, ideal conditions of, 75 
272 



INDEX 

Livingstone, David, quoted, 31 

Londonderry, siege of, referred to, 9; relief of, 9 

Lord, day of the, 78 

Luther, Martin, belief of relative to Christ's return, 13 

Macaulay, Lord, quoted, 154 

Magi, the, 26 

"Maranatha," 10; never-ceasing use of word, 15 

Mars' hill, sermon on, 139 

Mary, mother of Jesus, 112 

Measures, practical, to be used, 252 

Messiah, Jesus known to be, 131 

Messianic prince, coming of, 72; Scripture concerning, 
73; predicted by the prophets, 73 

Messianic reign, results of the, 74; triumph of kingdom 
advancing, 223 

Micaiah, vision of, 94 

Militz, Bohemian reformer, view of, 11 

Millenarian movement in Germany, 12 

Millenarianism, the cause of great mischief in the past, 
203 

Millennial definitions and distinctions, 201 

Millennium, the, 200; meaning of, 202; notion of strictly 
Jewish, 205; in John's terms, 216; conclusions con- 
cerning, 223 

Miller, William, remarkable following of, 12 

Milton, John, quoted, 200 

Mohammedism, spread of, 197 

More, Sir Thomas, Utopia of, 71; cited, 222 

Moses, law given by, 72 

Most High, the, pn judgment-throne, 217 

Napier, end of world placed by, 12 

Nebuchadnezzar, dream of, 98 

Nero, great power credited to, 49; credited with having 

been Antichrist, 196 
New Testament, teachings of concerning second advent, 

24 

Old Testament writings, 104 

Palestine, redeemed in late war, 258 

Pc.'otisia, meaning of, 25 

Paul, quoted, 23, 26, 39; on the Damascus road, 47; 

warning uttered by, 57; his double authentication 

to Jesus, 138; quoted, 139, 140; teaching of away from 

material expressions of religion, 141; thoughts of on 

273 



RETURN OF THE REDEEMER 

kingdom, 145; writings of colored by Jewish symbol- 
ism, 190; word "Antichrist" not used by, 191 

Pentecost, day of, preaching on, 41; fall of the Holy 
Spirit, 43 

Persians, ancient, teachings of, 217 

Peter, testimony of, 110; sermon of, 134; question ad- 
dressed to, 135; address of at Antioch, 136; writing of 
concerning the future kingdom, 144 

Pharisees, words of the, 41; question by, 117; denounced 
by Jesus, 118 

Pictures and symbols, 208 

Postmillennialism, 203 

Preachers of righteousness, expectations of, 9 

Preaching of the kingdom, the, 131 

Premillennialism, 203 

Preparedness, spiritual, required, 248 

Probation, man's, 23 

Prophecy, spirit of, 9; apocalyptic, 94; misuse of, 238 

Protestants, Irish, pillar raised by, 9 

Reformation, the, condition of church just previous to, 

182 
Religion, institutional, 256 

Resurrection, the, 131; discussed by Paul, 145, 146 
Resurrection and the kingdom, the, 101, 102 
Retribution and reward, 87; Scripture concerning, SS 
Revelation, book of, production of, 192 
Roman empire, opposition of, 28 
Roosevelt, Theodore, quoted, 236 
Russell, C. T., dogmatic teaching of, 12 
Russellism in the United States, 20 
Russian masses, ignorance of, 240 

Samaria, fall of, cited, 78 

Satan, effort of, 93; portrayal of, 187; imprisonment of, 
213; powerless against saints, 219 

Savonarola, execution of. 184 

Scheme, millenarian, cannot be reconciled with literal 
interpretation of Scripture, 212 

Second advent, doctrine of injured by social and political 
evils, 18, 19; Scripture concerning compared, 32, 33; 
manner and purpose of. 33; work of judgment in, 34; 
final discourse of Jesus on, 35-39; a revelation of com- 
paratively late date, 204 

Second coming, the, Scripture concerning unreasonably 
interpreted, 15; teaching of New Testament relative to, 
24; expectation of expressed in Scripture, 52, 53; prep- 
274 



INDEX 

aration for shown in Scripture, 54; purpose of, 54; 

manner of, 55; time of, 56; sovereignty of God to be 

everywhere acknowledged at, 148; resurrection and 

judgment of all men to be part of, 215 
Service, spiritual, demanded, 250 
Slave trade, the", banishment of from British dominions, 

200 
Slavery, abolition of in America, 236 
Society, advance of, 46; to be continued with Christ as 

ruler, 213 
Swift, Dean, 130 

Thirty Years' War, referred to, 13 
"Thousand years, a," the phrase, 219 
Times, the present, disturbed state of, 14 
Tradition, source of John's material, 210 

Venus, transit of, 247 

"Wandering Jew, the," 196 

War, the last, 243; to be spiritual, 244 

Wars, greatest of all, just ended, 14; Scriptures reck- 
lessly applied to, 226; might with propriety be called 
Armageddon, 238 

Wesleyan Revival, the, referred to, 18 

World, end of, expected in the year 1000, 11; other dates 
fixed upon, 12; widespread infatuation relative to in 
our own time, 14; agitation of year 1000 described, 19; 
Millerite excitement concerning, 19; punishment of the 
whole, 82; end of the, 164; destiny of according to 
modern physical science, 170; growing better, 175; 
final experiences of, 183 

World war, a new civilization being made possible by, 
196 

Writers, pagan, efforts of, 187 , 

Writing, apocalyptic, 97 

Zebedee children, request by mother of, 65 
Zephaniah, quoted, 79 



275 



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